


Welcome to the Menagerie!

by twoheartedalien



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Genji, Background McGenji, Background Zarcy, F/F, Genji has no style, Lena Plays Matchmaker, Modern Setting, Neither does Lena tbh, Paranormal, Siren!Amelie, Useless Gay, Vampire!Lena, background symbra - Freeform, cryptid AU, things getting a little more serious now, time to find out how to fake being dead, tiny gay tracer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-04-23 22:36:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14342421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoheartedalien/pseuds/twoheartedalien
Summary: What's a group of cryptids living in a home run by a human woman doing in the middle of Fuckall Nowhere, Kentucky?Lena doesn't know either.





	1. Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire

Warmth.

Pain.

_Hunger._

Lena immediately closed her eyes again, groaning in pain as she felt her body being dragged along what felt like gravel. Her whole body was aching and hot, and being dragged across rocks certainly wasn't helping her discomfort. She licked her lips and tried to speak but all that came out through her parched mouth were quiet squeaks of air as they escaped her throat.

She forced herself to open her eyes again and squint up at the person who was dragging her. A beautiful woman with piercing gold eyes and long black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail greeted her sight. Her whole body from the neck down was covered, including the pair of leather gloves that she was wearing. Even through her haze, Lena frowned. Something about her was… off. Not that Lena could do anything about that, incapacitated as she was.

Lena could barely keep her head up as she was being dragged, not wanting to add any further pain to herself by knocking her head on something. She had no idea where she was, or this woman was taking her, but she wasn't struggling. She couldn’t. She didn't have the energy to do so even if she wanted to.

The woman seemed to notice and look down at her with a frown, “Just sleep.” The woman said, her voice soft and alluring, and the most beautiful thing Lena had ever heard. She couldn’t possibly mean her any _harm_ , could she? Not with a voice so enchanting. And so, Lena did just that.

* * *

 

When Lena woke up again, she was sitting on a plastic chair in a dimly lit room. She groaned and began to reach up to brush her bangs out of her face, only to have her hand stopped short by something cold. Her eyes flew wide open and she twisted in the seat, her heart plummeted down to her stomach. Panic began setting as Lena realised she had no idea where she was and even if she knew that, she’d have no clue what it meant.

There were chains around her waist, holding her arms behind her back and tying her body to a concrete pillar sunk into the floor. She looked around the room wildly, trying to figure out what was going on when she spotted a woman with braided grey hair sitting on a chair a few metres away. Lena jumped in surprise, yelping when the sudden movement made the chains dig into her sore wrists.

“Don't worry, dear. You're safe here.” The woman said before taking a sip of her tea and placing it on the table beside her.

Lena licked her lips, internally cringing at how cracked and dry they felt, “Safe is a funny word to use when I'm chained up to a post!” She did her best to ignore the way her voice cracked as she spoke.

The woman gave a thoughtful hum and stood up, heading over to the other side of the room. She opened the door of a small mini fridge and pulled out a bag of something Lena couldn't see just yet.

“The chains are so you don't hurt _me_ , not because I'm going to hurt you or because I'm going to keep you here against your will.” She said as she walked closer to Lena, the item from the fridge concealed behind her back.

Lena narrowed her eyes at her, “Why on earth would I hurt you? I don’t even know you!”

The woman shrugged, choosing not to give a verbal answer to Lena’s question before holding up the bag she'd pulled from the fridge. Before she had time to recognise what it was, her body seemed to move on its own. Lena lunged forward towards the bag, the only thing stopping her were the chains securely around her and the concrete pillar. The woman stared back with a raised eyebrow, nonplussed.

She had a much closer look now at the bag that the woman was holding. It was a pouch of blood, one Lena recognised from the times she'd donated at the Red Cross. She licked her lips and tried her luck against the chains again, lunging forward only to find herself just as stuck as the last time.

“That is why you're chained up, dear. Now, take a seat for me and I will let you have some of this.” The woman watched her closely, waiting for Lena’s next move.

Lena's eyes flicked between the bag and the woman in front of her, taking a few moments to process what was going on before reclaiming her seat. She wasn't sure what was going on, but it felt like every fibre of her being _needed_ that bag.

“Open your mouth for me.” The woman instructed, crouching down in front of Lena now.

There was only a moment's hesitation before Lena opened her mouth for her, unsure of what was coming next. The woman brought the bag up to her mouth and guided her to bite on it before tipping it back. The taste of iron filled Lena’s mouth, and she took big gulps as the liquid flowed smoothly down her throat. She watched on in horror and intrigue as the woman tilted the bag up and her own body reacted so eagerly to the blood. She had expected to gag, to be disgusted; Instead she found herself enjoying the taste.

The woman squeezed the contents of the bag down into her mouth to make sure Lena got every drop of it before tossing it into a trash bin nearby. She reclaimed her seat and took up her cup of tea again. When Lena opened her mouth to speak again, the woman simply raised a finger to silence her.

“Just give that a minute or two to settle, then we’ll talk.”

Lena frowned but fell silent and examined her from where she was sitting. Her skin tone paired with accent made it clear she wasn't from the area - assuming they were still in Kentucky that is. For all Lena knew, she'd been kidnapped and taken out of the state or country. She was an older woman with grey hair tied in a braid, her skin was wrinkled but she didn't seem to show much of her age in the way she moved.

“Ask any questions you want.” The woman announced, putting her tea aside once more.

“Where are we?” Lena said, grateful that her throat and lips were no longer so dry.

“We are a few miles outside of Lebanon, Kentucky. This is my ranch.”

Lena nodded, just grateful to know she wasn't far from where she started, “Who’re you?”

The woman smiled at her, “I am Ana Amari. I used to serve in the military but I left in order to start a support home, of sorts.”

“Why'd you take me? Why am I here?” Lena asked, tugging at the chains around her waist and arms.

“You're here because I've saved your life. You were attacked by a vampire and you were left to die. Whoever it was, they either didn't have the experience to know how to completely drain you or they were interrupted by something else,” Ana paused, rolling up her sleeves to her elbows, “Since they failed to kill you, you've been turned into a vampire yourself. One of the people living in my home discovered you and brought you back here.”

“Vampire?!” Lena nearly choked on her own tongue with her surprise, “There’s no such thing, I don’t know what you _really_ want but you can stop pulling my leg now.”

“You didn’t seem too fazed when I had you drink an entire bag of blood,” Ana smirked at her, resting her hands in her lap, “I’m not pulling your leg, my dear. We’ve done a very good job at keeping the world unaware of cryptid existence so you wouldn’t know anything about them, but I can promise you, they’re very real,” Ana paused, seeing Lena’s eyes narrow in disbelief, “It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not yet, you’ll accept it sooner or later.”

“But why? Why would you want to help me?” She asked, relaxing in her seat. Lena could accept this information as fact for now, at least until she finds out what’s really going on.  

“Well, if we didn't help you, you would have died from blood loss at some point _or_ you would have lived and attacked other people,” Ana shrugged, “Bringing you here was the best option. Besides, taking care of people like you is what I do.”

Lena tilted her head, “What you do?”

“Yes, I run a support home except it's for abandoned cryptids such as yourself. You'll be living with us, at least for the next short while. Once you know how to take care of yourself, if you wish to leave, that will be up to you.” She offered Lena a warm smile.

“Right,” Lena started slowly, trying to process all the information she'd just been given, “They all vampires up there?”

“No, there are many different cryptids living here in this home, I'll introduce you to them soon enough,” Ana said as she stood up from her chair and walked towards Lena, “I'm going to get you cleaned up and feed you some more. We’ll have to wait until dark before I can bring you upstairs, you don't have the strength yet to survive sunrise.”

Lena watched silently as Ana made her way over to a bucket and filled it with what Lena hoped to be warm water and soap. She returned and knelt down in front of Lena with the bucket and a sponge before smiling up at her.

“You aren't gunna unchain me first?” Lena grumbled, tugging on them once more.

“Not just yet. We need to get you a lot more well fed first before I unlock you, last thing I need is to have to kill you after I put in the effort to save you.” Ana said with a small smile, getting the sponge wet and beginning to clean up the blood off of Lena's neck and shoulder, the first site of many where she'd been bitten.

The two of them sat in silence as Ana cleaned Lena’s body up the best she could while working around the chains and Lena’s clothing. When Ana was finally done and making her way back to the fridge to get another pack of blood, Lena chose to finally ask a question that had been burning inside her.

“Who was the lady who saved me?” She asked, chewing her lip. Whoever she was, she was so beautiful and she just _had_ to know. She hoped she was also a ‘cryptid’ who lived here.

“She's not up for discussion.” Ana replied shortly, holding up the new bag of blood instead.

As nice as it looked, Lena wanted answers, “But-”

“I said that she's not up for discussion, not today. We can talk about something else or we can sit in silence while you feed.”

Lena did her best to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the day, even when all she wanted to do was to ask about the woman with the golden eyes.


	2. Time for Introductions

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Ana released Lena from the chains keeping her to the concrete pillar after her third bag of blood and let her get some rest, giving her a small sleeping bag to use on the ground. She came back down the creaky wooden stairs with two more bags of blood towards the end of the day and let Lena drain them before speaking.

“Now that I’m certain you’re not going to leap on the nearest person and try to suck them dry, I think you’re ready to go up and meet the others.” Ana said, leaning against the concrete pillar that Lena had been chained to.

“How many others live here?” Lena asked as she tossed the now empty blood bags into the trash.

“Thirteen - if you include someone who comes and goes as he pleases and myself,” She answered with a small smile, “I think there’s a few you will get on with in particular.”

Lena nodded, choosing to say nothing as she watched Ana make her way back to the stairs and head up to the house. It took her a few moments to process the fact that she was meant to follow her, scrambling towards the stairs.

She flinched at the light that hit her face when Ana opened the door. It stung just a little but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She blinked rapidly, her eyes taking a little longer than normal to adjust even though it was dusk outside.

The door lead to the entrance way of the house, coming right out from under the main staircase and Lena took a few moments to look around. The house was certainly well loved. It was also bigger than she imagined, but she supposed that made sense with being able to have thirteen people stay here.

“Take your shoes off and place them by the door, please.” Ana said, gesturing with the flick of her hand towards the front door.

Lena slipped them off and walked a few steps to the door, placing them in a little cubby. As she was bent over, the front door opened and hit her in the ass. She stumbled a few steps away from the door with a muffled ‘Oof!’ and clutched her bum.

“Sorry, mate! Didn’t bloody well see you there.” A thick Australian accent apologised to her, much to her surprise. .

Lena stood up straight, rubbing her side with one hand and extending the other out for a handshake. She noticed quickly his strangely long limbs and his greyish skin as if he’d been covered in ash. He took her hand and shook it, his long fingers swallowing up her small hand.

“Name’s Jamison, can call me Jamie or Junkrat,” He said with a grin, showing off a set of razor sharp teeth, “You’re Lena, yeah?”

She nodded and stepped back, letting him come inside properly. Lena then saw the bag he had tucked under his other arm. It was her suitcase that she’d left back at the motel before she’d gone out to get something to eat the night before.

“Yeah, my name’s Lena,” She answered, narrowing her eyes at him, “How’d you get my bag?”

Jamison gave a light shrug, “Ana told me to. Even gave me the key to your room so all I had to do was go in and take your stuff.” He held the bag out to her by the handle.

There was a grunt from behind Jamison, causing the two of them to look up. Behind him stood an even taller man who was much heavier set than Jamison. He wore a gas mask which concealed his entire face and had his hair tied up on the top of his head. The most distinguishing feature about him, however, was his exposed and tattooed belly that Lena couldn’t help but stare at.

Jamison grinned widely and patted the man on the stomach, “This here is Roadie. Roadhog. He’s a good friend of mine. Helped me go get your bag.”

Roadhog simply grunted and pushed past the both of them to head towards the back of the house. Lena nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand rested on the back of her shoulder.

“I see you have met Junkrat and Roadhog,” Ana said dryly, “Try not to let these two get you into too much trouble.”

“Don’t listen to her, she doesn’t know what she’s talkin’ about,” Jamison lifted his sunglasses off his nose and rested them on the top of his head, “So, how’s bein’ a vampire going?”

Lena shrugged, “It’s fine, I guess. I don’t know.”

“Do you know what I am?” He asked, leaning in closer and showing off his teeth, “I’m a bogeyman, or just a bogey. Roadie’s a ghoul. Lots of fun things in this place if that’s what you’re lookin for!” Jamison said, patting Lena’s shoulder before making his way down the hall in the same direction that Roadhog had left.

Ana was waiting patiently to her side with a small smile on her face, “Ready to meet the others? They’re having dinner in the dining room.”

“Um, sure.” Lena said, doing her best to keep the anxiety out of her voice. Junkrat and Roadhog hadn’t seemed so bad, but she still had next to no clue what was going on.

She followed Ana down the hall and through the kitchen. Lena could see the property outside through the windows above the sink and cupboards. It was massive span of grass with a large barn that Junkrat and Roadhog were making their way towards. In the far distance she could see what looked to be some cornfields.  

The next room they entered was the dining room. In the centre was a large oak table which could easily seat sixteen people. Around the table was what Lena counted as nine different people all trying to pick at and eat food that had been laid out in the middle. Ana cleared her throat to get their attention.

“Everyone, this is Lena,” Ana gestured with an upturned palm to Lena, “As you know, she was turned last night by a vampire. Please, make her feel welcome.”

The woman closest to Lena on the left extended her hand in a handshake. She was an incredibly beautiful blonde woman with pale skin and blue eyes, “My name’s Angela. I’m a Fae, not a fairy. Please make sure to get that right,” Angela then pointed to the scary looking pink haired woman to her left, “This is Aleks, my partner. She’s a Giant.” Aleks grunted around a forkful of food.

A young Asian man with pastel green hair perked up, sitting up straighter in his seat to make eye contact with Lena, “I’m Genji! I’m a Jink,” He fixed Lena with a grin, “You look like you have some real tasty bad luck.”

The man sitting next to him, who was wearing an honest to god cowboy costume, pulled Genji back down into his seat, “Don’t you go scarin’ the newbie. She doesn’t know anythin’ yet. Name’s Jesse McCree and I’m none of yer business.”

Genji perked up again, “He’s an incubus, but I prefer the term man whore.”

A dark skinned woman on the other side of the table caught Lena’s attention with a wave, her face set in a frown, “My name is Satya Vaswani. I am a Dragon Princess,” Satya then looked to the woman sitting beside her who was practically inhaling her dinner like it was about to disappear from her plate, “This is my partner, Sombra. She is a shapeshifter but seems to forget that doesn’t mean eating like an animal.”

The woman next to them stood up from her seat and reached out to shake Lena’s hand. Lena could easily see the resemblance between her and Ana, “I’m Fareeha, Ana is my mother. I’m a Werewolf and the reason my mother started this house.”

Lena raised an eyebrow, “You got a fun story for that?”

“Not exactly _fun_ , but it is a story. One I might tell you about later.” Fareeha said with a smile, tapping the side of her nose.

Lena watched as Ana stood behind the last person sitting at the table, a man who looked like he was rotting alive. Even she knew what he was based on movies she’d seen.

“This is Jack,” Ana said, dropping both hands on his shoulders and causing him to jump slightly in his seat, “He looks worse than he smells. He’s a zombie or the undead. If you notice any parts of him falling off, please let him know before I find it under the couch.”

Jack seemed to grumble something under his breath and roll his eyes before forcing another forkful of food into his mouth. Lena raised her eyebrow at that, confused to see a zombie eating something other than people.

“You eat real food?” She asked without thinking.

“I don’t really need to eat anything at all. I just get bored and this tastes nice.” Jack answered monotonously.

Ana gave her a smile and walked back around to her, placing her hand on Lena’s upper back, “How about I show you your room, hm?”

“Sounds good to me. This… This has been a lot, y’know.”

“I would imagine so,” Ana said as they walked back through the kitchen and into the entrance way before heading up the stairs, “You’ll get used to it. They’re all friendly, even the ones who can kill you.”

They walked the rest of the way up in silence, taking a flight of stairs and walking past the rooms on that floor before taking the next flight. The house had four floors, not including the basement and the attic. It was much bigger than she expected, but then she supposed that’s what they’d need. Ana lead her to the attic which was separated from the floor below it by a narrow ladder.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t have any proper rooms left to give you. However, the attic is twice the size of the rest of the rooms so you have plenty of flexibility. I can take you out furniture shopping in a few days if you wish.” Ana explained as she climbed the ladder and popped open the latch keeping the small hatch shut.

They both climbed inside with Ana extending a hand to help Lena up into the attic. Ana had been right, it was rather roomy with a few windows giving a limited view of the land surrounding the house. There wasn’t much in the way of furniture but Lena was grateful that it wasn’t cluttered with random things. There was a bed in the far corner that had been made up recently, probably after she’d been brought back here.

“I’ll have someone bring your bag up here, feel free to just lie down and get some more rest if you’d like.” Ana gave her a firm pat on the back before heading back down the ladder, pulling the door shut on her way out, leaving Lena alone once more.  


	3. In Which Lena Sees Fareeha Naked

The following evening Lena couldn’t keep herself inside, feeling an overwhelming itch to head out. She found after the first day where she’d fallen asleep easily no matter the time of day, today she couldn’t sleep at night at all even when she was feeling exhausted. Lena made her way down from the attic to the ground floor where she headed outside for the first time since she’d arrived. 

There was a woman sitting on the back porch already though Lena was surprised to see she was completely naked. She recognised her as Ana’s daughter but couldn’t remember her name off the top of her head. Lena stared at her back for a few moments before clearing her throat to make the woman aware of her presence. 

The woman stood up and grinned in her direction, holding a hand out obviously expecting a handshake. Lena got a quick view of her naked body and quickly averted her eyes, looking anywhere but at the woman. She just managed to take hold of her hand to shake it out of the corner of her eye. 

“You’re Lena, yeah? The vampire my mum brought back?” The woman seemed to catch on quickly that Lena couldn’t look her in the eye, “Right, sorry. You’re not used to this.” She said, taking hold of a blanket slung over one of the porch chairs and using it to cover herself up. 

“Sorry, I don’t remember your name, love.” Lena said, avoiding the topic of the woman’s nakedness for now.

“My name’s Fareeha. You wondering why I was sitting out here with no clothes on?” She asked with a smirk. 

“Just a little…” Lena trailed off, feeling her face warming up again, “Not something I’m all that used to.”  

“I take my clothes off before changing and going for a run. If I didn’t, I’d go through clothes  _ very _ quickly,” Fareeha said with a small shrug, “Everyone here is used to seeing me naked and I forgot that you’re new around here. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” 

“Not uncomfortable, just surprised. So you’re a Werewolf?” Lena asked, dropping down into one of the seats with a sigh. 

“Yeah,” Fareeha took the seat next to her, making sure she was still covered by the blanket before continuing, “I was turned when I was fifteen, back in Cairo. My mum was working for the Egyptian Army at the time and I was living in an apartment she’d bought for when she didn’t have to stay on base. I’d been walking home from school when I was attacked by what I thought was a really large dog.” 

“Fuck, that’s intense.” Lena murmured, sitting up straighter in her chair. 

Fareeha shrugged and pursed her lips, “I suppose. Luckily my mum was home that afternoon and knew immediately when I didn’t come home. She tracked my phone and found me in a ditch. Don’t really remember anything from it but she took me to the hospital, got a bunch of stitches and shots. Stayed there for two days before they allowed me to go home. Couple weeks later, ended up changing for the first time,” Fareeha huffed a laugh, “Tore all my clothes, broke most of the furniture in the apartment, ate all the meat in the fridge. My mum came home in time to sleep dart me before I decided to steal a live chicken or something.” 

“So how’d you end up all the way out here?” Lena asked, running her fingers through her hair, “Lebanon, Kentucky is certainly not a fun place to live.”

“It’s alright out here, once you get used to being in the middle of nowhere. My mum did her research and found out this was the best place to be as a cryptid. Plus, we have so much land on this ranch that I can run for what seems like forever without running into another person,” She smiled over at Lena, “You wanna play fetch?”

Lena raised an eyebrow at that, “Fetch?”

“Yeah, fetch. You toss the ball, I fetch. You’re a vampire, so you’ll be able to throw it extra far. Should make it more fun.” Fareeha said before standing up, tossing the blanket back on the chair before changing in front of Lena. 

It happened so quickly that Lena barely saw anything happen at all. The human that had been Fareeha was now replaced with a large black wolf who was now resting her face in her lap, eyes flicking between Lena and the tennis ball sitting on the porch. She stared at the wolf uncertainty. The wolf stared back, eyes wide and soulful and whining softly. 

“Alright, alright,” Lena said, a smile growing on her face as she stood up and grabbed the ball, “You ready?”

Fareeha sat and watched the ball in her hand, ears upright and tail still, waiting for Lena to toss it. She threw it as hard as she could and the ball went much further than she’d expected, easily going a couple hundred metres after a few bounces. She watched as Fareeha sprinted off the back porch and ran out into the dark. 

Just under a minute later, Fareeha came running back with the tennis ball in her mouth. Lena grinned as she took it and scratched her between the ears before tossing it again. She could get used to this.

* * *

 

The following morning, Lena and Fareeha made their way back inside after a night of playing with various dog toys out the back of the house. Lena found she was much less bothered by Fareeha’s lack of clothes this time around. 

They made their way into the kitchen using the back door and were immediately met with Angela, who was pouring herself a bowl of cereal. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she had dark rings under her eyes. She gave both Lena and Fareeha an unamused look paired with a grunt in greeting as she added milk to the bowl. 

“Morning to you too, Angie.” Fareeha said with a smirk as she headed back into the entrance way and headed up the stairs. 

Lena’s eyes fell on Ana sitting at the small two seater table in the kitchen with a cup of tea and the newspaper, and she lingered downstairs uncertainty for a moment. She cleared her throat to get Ana’s attention and pulled the chair out but didn’t sit, silently asking for permission. Ana looked up at her and nodded before flipping the page.  

“I see you’ve met Fareeha.” Ana said, bringing her cup of tea to her lips to take a sip. 

“Yeah, we played fetch and stuff last night. It was pretty good fun,” Lena said, taking her seat at the table and getting comfortable, “I had a question to ask you, actually.”

“Oh?” Ana looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah, I was just wondering about the lady who brought me here. The pale one with those crazy golden eyes,” Lena said, gesturing at her own eyes as she spoke, “Haven’t seen her around yet.”

“Ah,” Ana said, putting her cup down and folding up the newspaper, placing it aside for now, “Yes. I wondered if you’d remember that part. The woman who rescued you was Amélie, she lives here but she doesn’t leave her room very much. She’s a Siren and tries to keep her contact with others as limited as possible.” 

“Oh, okay. Why’s that?” 

“That is not my story to tell. You could ask her yourself, if you want. I don’t believe she’d say anything to you though,” Ana said with a smile, picking up her cup of tea again, “Her room is two doors before the ladder to the attic.”

Lena made her way out of the kitchen and up the main staircase, heading to the fourth floor and finding the room that Ana had told her belonged to the woman, Amélie. She knocked once and waited. Nothing. Lena knocked another couple of times, all of which also got no response from the woman inside. 

Her first instinct was that Amélie was probably out of the house. Perhaps she’d gone out for the day. Lena then remembered that Ana had said she rarely left her bedroom, she was most likely still home but just ignoring her knocking. 

“Hey, um, Ana told me that you were the one who rescued me the other night. Could’ve died but I didn’t, thanks to you. I was hoping that you might let me in or just like, open the door to speak to me so I can thank you face to face?” Lena asked hopefully, waiting for another couple of minutes. 

“Right. Well, I’ll come back later and try again…” Lena trailed off, trying to think of what to say next, “I just want to thank you, I don’t bite. Much.” She joked with a short laugh, trying to coax her out one last time. 

Lena knew she probably should leave the poor woman alone. It did seem to be all she wanted from what Ana had said and the way she ignored Lena. She couldn’t leave it be though. Lena would come back and get Amélie to speak to her, even if it was to just say thank you. 


	4. Diet and Hobbies of a Bogeyman

Lena grumbled as she made her way into the kitchen in the late evening. She pushed her way past a few of the others who were in the middle of making dinner and opened the fridge, pulling out one of the bags of blood Ana had stored there for her. When she went to tear open the top corner of the bag, Angela stopped her. 

“You aren’t using your fangs to bite into the bag?” She asked, holding Lena’s wrist.

Lena’s face flushed with embarrassment, “Fangs?” Ana hadn’t mentioned anything about that. 

“Yes, you’re a Vampire. You have fangs,” Angela gave her a soft smile, “It’s going to sound really weird but open your mouth and then smell the bag, it’s already torn open.” 

Lena eyed her suspiciously for a moment, as if expecting her to be pulling a prank on her of some kind before opening her mouth. She brought the bag to her nose and sniffed the contents before letting out a small yelp. The canines in her mouth had extended into longer fangs and she had  _ felt  _ it.

“Now, just bite the bag and drink it that way. Should be more satisfying.” Angela said, giving her a pat on the back before returning to the food she was cooking. 

She watched Angela for a moment before doing what she was told, draining the bag of blood using her fangs instead of her mouth. It  _ did  _ taste better. A lot better, actually. Lena let out a quiet moan of pleasure at the taste and earned a chuckle from Angela. When the bag was empty, she tossed it into the trash. 

“How’d you know about that? I thought you were that Fae thing.” Lena mumbled, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. 

“I know because we have another Vampire who lives here. Gabriel’s away at the moment but I think Ana contacted him so he could come back and help you out,” Angela put down her utensils and headed to a cupboard nearby, “Would you be able to do me a favour, Lena?” She asked, fluttering her eyelashes at her. 

Lena didn’t think she could say no to that, “Sure, what is it?” 

“I need you to take this bag of food to Jamison out in the barn for me.” She said, passing Lena a foul smelling plastic bag filled with… something. 

Her nose scrunched up at the smell, “What the fucks in this?” Lena asked, holding the bag out away from herself. 

“Ask Jamison.” Angela replied with a laugh, heading back to her own cooking. 

Lena sighed and made her way out onto the back porch then onto the grass, walking towards the old style barn a few hundred metres away from the house. Even if this food smelt disgusting, she was curious to see what was inside the barn and why the two of them would voluntarily live in it. 

She arrived outside the barn and looked for a door of some kind, finding nothing other than the two massive doors at the front. Lena knocked at it and waited. She heard some scrambling from inside before the creak of the door behind pulled open. Jamison answered the door in nothing but a pair of shorts and sunglasses. 

“Dinner!” Jamison shouted with glee as he snatched the bag out of her hands, opening the knot at the top and breathing in the foul scent with a nearly orgasmic sigh, “Smells delicious.” 

Lena pinched the top of her nose, overwhelmed by the smell, “The fucks in your dinner, mate. It’s disgusting.” 

Jamison looked at her with a wide grin, “How ‘bout you come inside and I’ll tell ya?” He walked away from the door, leaving it open as he headed back inside. 

She considered heading back to the house for a moment, not exactly thrilled by the idea of hanging around with someone eating such disgusting food but curiosity once again got the better of her. Lena stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind her. 

The inside wasn’t much different from what Lena would have expected from a regular barn. There were still caged off areas for animals and hay lying around on the ground and stacked in bundles. The only difference was that there were two beds, a couch, a large TV, and a mini fridge in the corner. 

“Welcome to me and Roadie’s humble abode!” Jamison said, arms up in the air as if in celebration. The foul bag of food still in one hand. 

“Right,” She paused, looking around the barn, “I still wanna know what’s in your food, love.” 

“Oh, it’s just some rotten food. They leave some stuff for me to rot and also toss in anything that doesn’t get eaten before it goes bad as well.” He grinned at her as he took a seat at the couch, dropping the bag on the coffee table. 

“Why on earth would you eat rotten food?” Lena took a tentative seat on the opposite side of the couch. 

Jamison looked at her, confused at first before snapping his fingers at her, “Riiiiight,” He said, picking up the fork included in the bag, “You don’t know anything about this stuff. I’m a bogey, we eat old food. Tastes a lot better anyway. You humans don’t know what you’re missing out on.” 

Lena stared on in disgust, as Jamison opened up the container inside that held his food and began happily eating it, groaning in pleasure at the taste. She brought her feet up onto the couch and hugged her legs to her chest as if trying to get away from the sight without actually moving. 

“God, that’s fucking disgusting.” Lena said, squeezing her eyes shut. 

“Maybe to you. You gotta be a bit more open minded, mate,” Jamison said with food still in his mouth, “If you think I’m gross, you should see how Roadie eats!” He practically cackled at that idea. 

“Why?” She asked, knowing she’d probably regret it. 

“Oi, Roadie! C’mere.” Jamison called out, putting his food back on the table for now. 

Roadhog had been tucked away in some backroom that Lena hadn’t noticed at first, grunting in response to Jamison’s shouting. He made his way over to the both of them, standing by the end of the couch that Lena was sitting on. Lena had known the guy was tall but now that she was sitting on the couch, he seemed to completely tower over her. 

“Roadie, take your mask off for her!” He clapped his hands together with glee, “Do it! Do it!” 

Roadhog grunted again and looked between the two of them as if considering his options before reaching up and removing the mask. His face seemed completely normal at first until he opened his mouth for Lena to see. His teeth made Jamison’s sharp ones look almost normal. Lena’s jaw dropped as she saw the rows of shark like teeth in his mouth. 

“What. The. Fuck.” Lena gripped the arm of the couch in a combination of fear and amazement. 

“He eats big,  _ big _ animals. He can eat a human y’know! It’s so gross to watch, I love it.” Jamison was bouncing on the spot with excitement, as if Roadhog was going to eat something right here and now for them. 

“Jesus.” That was all Lena could manage, her brain seemed to have short circuited. 

“Isn’t it  _ awesome _ ?” Jamison giggled, shaking Lena’s shoulders. 

“Sure. Awesome. Definitely the word I’d use.” She said, watching as Roadhog put his mask back on and grunted as he walked back to the room he’d come from. 

Jamison reclaimed his seat on the other side of the couch and finished off the rotten food that Lena had brought him. She was grateful for the smell improving now that it was all eaten and the fact that she could finally let go of her nose. Lena cringed when Jamison looked at her she spotted some mould on his cheek. 

“You should join me and Roadie out in the corn. Got some new toys to try out!” He grinned widely at her. Those teeth were certainly something she’d have to get used to.

“Sure,” She shrugged, “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Jamison let out an excited squeal before running into the backroom that Roadhog had returned to earlier. She stood up and picked up the now empty food bag, tossing it into a trash can nearby, not able to look at it any more. Lena watched with a raised brow as he hobbled his way back carrying a large backpack. 

“Lets go!” He announced before pushing past Lena and out the door of the barn. 

Lena followed quickly after, walking through the open field outside. She noticed that Jamison had put on some shoes, covering his weirdly long feet with a pair of torn boots. His toes were peeking out of the top but it didn’t seem to bother him even slightly. They walked in silence for the first few minutes before curiosity got the best of her. 

“So how’d you end up here?” She asked, scratching her head, “Ana said most of the people here were abandoned or something.” 

“Oh, I got lost.” Jamison said as if it answered her question.

“You got lost? In rural Kentucky?” 

“Yep! I was taking a bus and fell asleep. Got off here and didn’t know where I was, had no money,” He screwed up his face, pursing his lips, “Ana found me after there were people hating the fact that I was eating their garbage so she came and got me.”

“Why’d you stay?” Lena took a few quick steps to be walking by his side, “I’m sure she’d have given you money to go home.”

“Don’t want me back home. ‘S why I left. Plus, Ana feeds me all the good garbage. Don’t have to find my own.”

Lena frowned, eyebrows drawing together, “Why don’t they want you back home, love?”

Jamison grinned wickedly at her, “You’ll see!”

It took another twenty minutes of walking to reach the cornfield that Jamison had been talking about when they left. The field itself was large enough that Lena couldn’t see the end of it from where they were standing. She was confused as to why he wanted to come all this way, there wasn’t anything particularly  _ interesting _ about the cornfield.

“Right, right, right,” Jamison mumbled to himself, stroking his chin as he stared out into the field, “I want you to follow me.” 

He wrapped his long fingers around her wrist and tugged her into the corn, pushing through all of it. Lena grumbled with annoyance as she was hit in the face by them after they’d been pushed out of the way by Jamison. There’d better be something real good in the middle of this corn, she thought. 

Jamison took her a far ways into the corn before stopping in a small clearing about a metre in circumference. He guided her to stand in the middle of it while attempting to give her a reassuring grin that came off as predatory more than anything. The backpack jingled as he removed it and stood behind Lena, easing her arms through the straps before patting her shoulders. 

“Just stand right there for me, mate! Don’t move.” He said with a mock salute before running off into the corn in the direction they’d come from. 

Lena was less than thrilled about being left here by herself. She waited a few minutes without moving like Jamison had instructed before getting frustrated, pulling the bag off her shoulders to hold it in front of her. She tugged it open in front of her, first seeing a bunch of wires before noticing what looked like a block of clay. Even with her limited knowledge and experience, she knew it was a bomb. 

“Jam-” Lena tried calling out before it went off. 

All she saw was a bright flash of light from the explosives going off in the bag. Lena didn’t feel any pain but she could sense that she was still standing even if she was blinded. She could feel her breathing quicken, panic beginning to set in as the fact that a bomb had just gone off in her hand settled in her mind. She had no idea what just happened or what was going on right now. 

It took a couple minutes before her eyesight began to return with rapid blinking, in that time she didn’t dare move just in case she was hurt. Her panic began to ease when she realised she didn’t seem to be actually hurt. She could hear Jamison squealing and giggling with happiness in the distance. 

Lena rubbed at her eyes as she realised she was beginning to be able to see again. She looked around and saw most of the corn around her was either blown away completely or currently on fire to some degree. It then hit her that she was now naked, her clothes having been turned to ash by the explosion and leaving her skin and hair singed. 

Jamison came running through what remained of the field, hopping every third or fourth step while clapping his hands. He seemed to be completely unfazed by the way that Lena was standing naked in front of him due to his explosion. 

“I now see why they don’t want you back at home.”


	5. Playing Matchmaker

Lena was woken up the next afternoon by the sound of multiple crashes followed by a scream. She forced herself out of bed and scrambled for a pair of sunglasses she’d stolen from Jamison the night before as repayment for the explosive disaster. As she pulled up the hatch and made her way down the ladder in her pyjamas, it became clear she wasn’t the only one who’d been disturbed by the noises outside. 

The only person who didn’t leave their room to investigate was Amélie, and Lena wasn’t surprised. She’d been here for a few days now and she still hadn’t seen her come out. Lena passed her room and made her way down to the ground floor then out the front door. She found most of the people in the house crowded around something on the grass beside the house. 

On the ground nearby was a ladder that Lena assumed had been previously propped up on the side of the house. In front of the ground of people was a man she recognised as Jack, the Zombie, with an arm torn off his body. Ana came stalking out of the back of the house, very clearly furious. 

“Jack! What have I told you about putting yourself in danger?” She shouted as she closed the distance between them. 

Lena watched curiously as Ana knelt down beside him and roughly grabbed the arm and pressed it to Jack’s side. She could hear Ana mumbling to Jack about how much of an idiot he was as she tried to assess the damage. 

“How many times have I told you that you can’t afford to injure yourself anymore?” She asked, smacking him on the side of the head, “There are only  _ so many _ times that I can sew you back together before it won’t hold. You’re already permanently missing three toes.” 

Jack gave her what looked to be a mix of a pout and a guilty look, “I just wanted to fix the outside of my window.”

“Yes, but we’ve discussed this,” Ana started, raising an eyebrow at him, “There’s no point fixing your own window if you fall and start losing body parts, understand?” 

Jack stared at her for a moment before nodding, “Yes, ma’am.” 

“Good, now get up and head into the basement. I’m going to have to spend my afternoon sewing your arm back on.” She said, resting his arm on his chest before standing up. 

Ana then fixed her eyes on the Asian man with pastel green hair. Lena couldn’t remember his name but Ana seemed pissed off with him. The crowd of cryptids divided to let Ana make her way through to where he had been standing at the back of the group.

“Genji, did you consume his luck?” 

The man, Genji, looked like he was going to shit himself, “Not this time! I swear!” 

Ana took hold of the top of his ear, pulling him down to her height, “What have I told you about consuming Jack’s luck? He falls apart too easily for you to take all his good luck.”

“I didn’t do it this time, I promise!” He squeaked, trying to bend down to lessen the pain from Ana pulling on his ear. 

Ana eyed him quietly for a moment before letting him go, “Good. Jack’s just an idiot then, as always.” She gave him a parting pat on the back before walking with Jack back inside the house.

Lena watched as most of the others made their way back inside as well now that the interesting display was over, except for Genji. He was still standing near the ladder, giving it a good kick before recoiling from the pain. She decided to go over to him, putting a hand on his back to comfort him. 

“You alright, love?” Lena asked, staring at Genji’s now bleeding stubbed toe.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” He sighed, “Just sick of the way I’m blamed for  _ everything _ that goes wrong.” 

“Everything?” She tilted her head, staring at him.

“Everything,” Genji confirmed, “It’s because I’m a Jink. They think anything that goes wrong is because I ate all the good luck and caused the problem. They have trouble believing me when I say I don’t do that anymore.” 

“Doesn’t sound fair,” Lena said with a hum, “Any way you can prove them wrong?”

“Not really, no.” He ran his fingers through his hair, staring at the ladder. 

“Well, I don’t really know what to do about that. Don’t really know anyone. What exactly  _ is  _ a Jink?” She asked with a soft smile.

“Oh, um, we’re a human-like species that consumes the luck of those around them. Not much else to it really. If I take good luck, I have good fortune a lot of the time but end up having massive disasters, but if I take people’s bad luck, usually I have small bad stuff happen but the big things go well,” Genji said with a smile and a shrug, “Paying the lady.”

“Paying the lady?” 

“Yeah, something my people say,” He said, starting to walk back towards the house, “Paying lady luck your dues, I guess. Everything is meant to balance out in the end, can’t have too much good or bad luck otherwise it all falls apart.” 

“Right,” Lena said as she followed him and pursed her lips, “Do you eat garbage as well?”

Genji snorted a laugh, “Garbage? Where did that come from?”

“Jamison, he eats garbage.” She said. Lena could feel her face warming with embarrassment, it had made a lot more sense in her head.

“No, I definitely  _ don’t _ eat garbage,” He said, shaking his head with a wide grin on his face. Lena was glad it seemed to improve his mood at least, “I eat like a human, mostly. More fruit and less meat, but mostly the same.”

“I see… That makes a lot more sense, I guess.” She said as they entered the house, following Genji up the main staircase. 

“Do you want to come to my room?” Genji asked, looking back at her over his shoulder. 

Lena shrugged, “Sure. Normally I’d be sleeping but that I’m definitely awake now thanks to Jack.” She took off her sunglasses and put them in her pyjama pant pocket. 

Genji lead her up to the second floor and to the last bedroom on that floor, pulling out his key and going to unlock it. The door to the room next to his opened and a woman that Lena didn’t recognize at all stepped out. Her hair was a mess and her blouse was buttoned incorrectly, each one of them one hole too far down. Genji rolled his eyes when Jesse also stepped out of the room. 

“Genji.” Jesse mumbled with a nod. 

“Jesse.” Genji murmured back before heading into his room, holding the door out for Lena to follow. 

She hesitated for a moment with her eyes flicking between Jesse and Genji. Part of her was curious to know what the tension was all about but another part of her felt like it was probably best  _ not _ to ask. Lena stepped into his bedroom and Genji closed the door behind her, locking it.

“Sorry about that. Things with Jesse are…  _ complicated. _ ” He said, shaking his head with a frown.

Now she was  _ very _ curious, “What’s going on there?” 

Genji took a seat on the edge of his bed, patting on the mattress to tell Lena to join him. She sat down as well and looked around the room. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion at the posters on his walls. Most of them were Japanese characters or from various animes that she didn’t recognise, barring one - Hello Kitty. Lena decided to hold her tongue. 

“Jesse and I have a weird relationship. On and off again.” Genji said with a sigh. 

“Oh,” Lena fiddled with the bed sheets, “Why’s that?”

“I can’t meet his… sexual needs,” He licked his lips, “He’s an incubi and has a very,  _ very _ high sex drive. I, on the other hand, have no sex drive at all. Jesse can technically survive on more platonic physical contact but he prefers to have a lot more.” 

“Right. Sounds messy,” She bounced her leg as she thought about what to say next, “Is the no sex drive thing because you’re a Jink or …?” 

“No, definitely not. I’m just asexual. I  _ want _ to be with Jesse, but it’s a bit of a mismatch I suppose.” 

Lena let out a slow breath, not exactly sure how to comfort Genji in this moment, “Maybe you guys should consider some kind of alternative arrangement?” 

“Alternative arrangement?” Genji asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, maybe you guys could date and he feeds off you most of the time, only indulging with others real occasionally. Doesn’t have to be a normal relationship like humans have,” Lena said with a shrug, “Not exactly human, the both of you.” 

“Perhaps… Maybe you’re right. I should talk with Jesse.” Genji said, standing up now.

Lena held her hand out and coaxed him into sitting back down, “Maybe when he hasn’t just had some random lady friend over, yeah?” 

“Yes, that’s probably a good idea.” 

There was a silence between them and Lena chewed her lip, trying to think of something to say when her eyes came across that poster again, “So, Hello Kitty?”


	6. Lena Pokes the Giant

Lena was woken up by hammering at the hatch. She groaned and rolled over in bed, peering at it with one eye. Whoever it was, was waiting for Lena to get up and open it or give them permission. She sighed dramatically as she rolled out of bed and fumbled for her sunglasses as she made her way to the hatch, pulling it open. 

Aleks was standing on the ladder beneath the hatch and Lena was surprised to see that she was merely stepping on the bottom rung. Jesus she was tall, she thought. Lena crouched down next to the open hatch and smiled at Aleks while putting on her sunglasses. 

“What’s up?” 

“Ana has told me to come get you,” Her Russian accent was much stronger than Lena had expected, “Says you need to meet someone.” 

Lena perked up at that, her mind instantly going to the possibility that  _ maybe _ she was going to finally meet the woman who’d rescued her, “Sure, sure. Just let me get dressed and I’ll be right there.” 

She scrambled from where she’d been kneeling, heading to the dresser that Ana had lent her for now. It was missing a leg, leaning and wobbling every time Lena tried to use it. The top draw got stuck each time she tried to pull it but Ana promised her they’d go furniture shopping in the next day or so to get something less terrible. 

Lena quickly got dressed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, making her way down the hatch and ladder to the next floor. She made the assumption that Ana was waiting for her on the first floor and made her way there first. Excitement bubbled inside Lena as her mind went straight to wondering what Amélie would look like outside the handful of memories she had of the night she was attacked. She wondered if she looked the same as she’d imagined. 

Instead, when she got down to the entrance way, Lena found Ana standing with a dark skinned man easily in his forties. His face was marred with scars and a few wrinkles. She raised an eyebrow at the way he was wearing all black, right from the beanie and sunglasses down to his boots. 

“Hello Lena. Thanks for coming down, I know you were sleeping,” Ana started, reaching out for Lena and gesturing for her to come closer, “There is someone I wanted you to meet though.” 

Lena took a few steps closer, standing right next to Ana and looking at the man in front of her, “Hey there.” She murmured, chewing her lip. He gave her a short nod in reply before Ana spoke again. 

“This is Gabriel Reyes, a good friend of mine,” She smiled at the both of them, “He’s a Vampire as well and I called him when Amélie brought you in to see me. I figured that he might be more helpful in getting you to up to speed on things than just myself.” 

“Luckily,” He started, his voice low and rough, “I had just finished up what I was doing out in California and had the ability to come back.”

“Ignore his attempt to sound important. All he was doing in California was sulking.” Ana said with a smirk. 

“That’s a lot of talk from someone who’s asking for a favour,” He grinned, clapping Ana on the shoulder, “I’m going to go settle into my room and I’ll come find you in a day or so to arrange a time to meet, yeah?” 

Lena took a moment to realise he was talking to her and then nodded, “Sure, sure. Sounds good to me.” 

Ana and Gabriel then both made their way up the stairs to what she assumed had to be his room on the first floor. Lena headed into the kitchen, deciding that if she was up in the middle of the day, she might as well take advantage of it and eat. She opened the fridge and pulled out a bag of blood, sinking into it with her fangs just like Angela had told her to before draining the entire thing. 

Angela and Aleks were also standing in the kitchen. Aleks was leaning against the counter while Angela seemed to be making them some lunch. She was amazed to see how much Aleks dwarfed her when they were standing side by side. Lena finished drinking the blood in the bag before tossing it in the trash bin nearby. 

“Hey,” She said, trying to get their attention, “Do you mind if I ask you guys some questions?” 

The two of them looked at each other with knowing smiles before Aleks stood up straight, “Da, what do you want to know?” 

Lena swallowed thickly and gave her a nervous smile, “I was just wondering, aren’t Giants and stuff meant to be ugly? You’re not what I was expecting.”

Aleks put her hands on her hips, towering over Lena. Suddenly, Lena’s world was upside down. Her eyes met upside-down amused ones, her head just up off the floor enough for the tips of her hair to brush the tiles. “Wait wait wait, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it that way!” Aleks ignored the way she yelped and struggled, it didn’t seem to bother her at all. Lena didn’t know what to do with her hands and let them fall to the ground. 

“Vampires are meant to be scary,” Aleks said, shaking her up and down, “Why you are not scary?”

Angela chuckled, “Put her down, Aleks. She didn’t mean it.” 

Aleks stared at her for a few moments before turning Lena up the right way and put her back on her feet, “I am sorry, little one. I forget you don’t know everything about cryptids.”

Lena straightened out her clothes and nodded, “I probably should have thought my question through a bit more. So, uh, what does being a Giant… involve?” 

“I am tall,” She said, eyeing Lena carefully, “And strong. Much more than humans.” 

“Right, right,” Lena paused as she waited for more information, “Is that all there is to it?” 

Aleks only shrugged, “I am smaller than other Giants. Is why I left.” 

Lena’s jaw dropped, “You’re  _ small _ for your kind?! But you’re fucking  _ huge _ !”

“Most Giants are eight or more feet tall. Aleks is only six and a half feet tall. Her father was a human so she’s only half a Giant,” Angela said with a smile, “Giants don’t like mixing with those who they consider to be ‘outsiders’ so she never felt welcome there.” 

“Da,” Aleks folded her arms against her chest and Lena couldn’t help but stare at her biceps, “I heard about ranch from friends so I come visit and I like, so I stay.”

She nodded, looking from Aleks to Angela, “What about you, Angie?”  

“What about me?” Angela replied, putting her knife down. 

“You’re a Fae, yeah? How’d you end up here?” 

“Yes, I am,” She answered, clearing her throat, “I ended up here after my parents abandoned me as a baby. I was bumped around from foster home to foster home without really knowing what I was until I was in my twenties. After… A few mistakes of I made, Ana found me in Texas while I was living there trying to do my graduate research and I moved up here while we figured things out,” Angela gave a small shrug, “I liked it and met Aleks so I decided to stay here, for now at least.” 

“Oh cool!” Lena said, stepping between Aleks and Angela before wrapping her arms around the both of them, “Angie, you can cook, yeah? I need some help with something.”

* * *

 

Lena knocked on Amélie’s door a few hours later with a bowl of ratatouille. She’d managed to coax that information out of Angela and got her help making the food. It hadn’t been as challenging as Lena had thought and she was grateful - if this worked, she could use it to coax Amélie out again. 

There was no response to the first knock so Lena tried again, this time while speaking, “So, I made your favourite food. Got some ratatouille for you if you open the door.” 

For the first time since she’d arrived, Lena heard noise from the other side of the door. It sounded like someone walking and then the door unlocked before being pulled open. She instantly recognised the woman who’d rescued her. Lena stood there with the bowl of ratatouille in her hand and her mouth hanging open. 

Amélie was largely the same as Lena remembered from the night she was attacked. She was tall and thin, looming over her in the doorway. Though, that wasn’t hard, Lena wasn’t exactly very tall herself. She had pale skin and piercing golden eyes with long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her whole body was covered except for her face, she was wearing leather gloves even though they were inside. 

“H-Hi,” Lena stammered, “I brought you some… vegetable thing.” Her mind blanked on what the dish was called now that she stood in front of Amélie. 

She raised an eyebrow, saying nothing as she stared at Lena, “Come in.” She murmured, leaving the door open for her. 

Lena stumbled her way through the door, barely keeping hold of the ratatouille. The room was immaculately clean with minimal furniture. There was a double bed in the corner with one bedside table, a set of nicely polished wooden drawers and a desk. There was a large pile of books in the corner and a laptop on the desk. Lena found herself wondering quickly how Amélie kept herself entertained in here all day. 

Amélie sat down on the edge of her bed and watched Lena for a few moments, gesturing for her to sit down as well. It took her a bit but Lena sat down and held out the bowl of ratatouille for her to take. She placed the bowl in her lap and picked up a spoonful, eating it. Lena held her breath as she watched her, hoping that Amélie would enjoy it. 

She only let herself breathe again after Amélie nodded, letting out a small hum of enjoyment. Lena did her best not to stare at her as she ate, not wanting to come across as too weird  _ just yet _ . She was certain Amélie was the most beautiful woman she’d ever met though and it was hard not to look at her. 

When Lena was looking around the room to avoid staring, she noticed the one thing in the room that seemed to give it some sort of personal touch. A photograph of what looked to be Amélie and a young man holding each other close and kissing. Her heart sank. At the very least Amélie was straight knowing her luck and she was probably taken if that photo was anything to go by. She did her best to hide her disappointment for now. 

“Thank you for that,” Amélie murmured, passing the bowl back to Lena, “You do not have to thank me. I have already heard you through the door each time you come by.”

“Your voice is so beautiful.” It came out of Lena’s mouth before she could stop it causing her face to go a dark red. 

“I think it might be best that you leave now, Lena.” Amélie refused to look at her, eyes instead locked on the photo on her bedside table. 

“Right, uh, thanks again.” 

Lena made her way out of Amélie’s bedroom, hearing the door close and lock behind her before she leaned against the wall. She slid down and sat on the floor with a sigh. Lena wondered if this was what love felt like.


	7. Lena Gets a Telling Off

Lena sat at the small two seater table in the kitchen, arms folded on the top with her forehead resting against them. She was sulking and she knew it, and everyone who walked past her to get their breakfast also knew it. They chose to say nothing to her after the rumour of Lena having managed to get into Amelie’s room to talk to her had spread. 

She was waiting for Ana to come down for her first cup of tea and to read the newspaper. Lena wasn’t quite sure what she expected her to be able to do about any of this, but she also didn’t know who else to turn to. She suspected Jamison wouldn’t be very good at giving advice about women. 

Ana came into the kitchen at her usual time for seven am after having had her shower and gotten dressed. She walked right past Lena, heading straight for the cupboards and the kettle to make her tea first. Next to the kettle was the folded up newspaper for the day which Fareeha fetched for her every morning. 

When she was ready, Ana took her seat at the other side of the table from Lena and said nothing to acknowledge her. Lena lifted her head and stared at her, pouting slightly. It took her a few minutes to realise that Ana wasn’t going to be the first to speak. 

“I spoke to Amelie yesterday.” She started, tapping her nails against the top of the table.

“I’m aware.” Ana said from behind her tea cup. 

Lena gave a dramatic sigh as she rested her head against the table, “Why didn’t you tell me she had a boyfriend?”

She raised an eyebrow at Lena, putting the cup back on the saucer. Ana pursed her lips as if she were considering what to say, “I didn’t know that information was relevant. You’d only met her the one time when you were passing in and out of consciousness,” She shrugged, “She also doesn’t have a boyfriend.” 

The chair made a horrible noise as it scraped against the kitchen tiles when Lena stood up, “Why didn’t you say that to start with?”

“Sit back down, dear. Try not to have an aneurysm from so much excitement.” She folded her newspaper up, putting it aside with a sigh. 

“Right,” Lena flushed a dark red with embarrassment, “Sorry.” She mumbled as she reclaimed her seat.

“Amelie locks herself away in her bedroom for a reason and we respect that, so we leave her be. The photograph you saw…” Ana trailed off as she folded her arms against her chest, “The man in it is Gerard, her fiance who passed away. Due to her being a Siren, she believes it’s her own fault.” 

Her face screwed up in confusion, “How could that be her fault?” 

“Gerard became obsessive with time, controlling. She ended up taking his life in self defense and she blames herself for it. It’s why she hides herself away and covers up the majority of her body, barely ever speaking,” She shifted in her seat, “She’s trying to prevent it from happening again.” 

“Oh god,” Lena put her head in her hands, “That’s why she asked me to leave, yeah? I was too much too soon. She probably thinks I’ve been Siren-ed or something.” 

Ana huffed a laugh and picked up her tea cup again, “Siren-ed is not the right term, but, yes I suppose she probably does believe her Voice has affected you in some way. Amelie is probably scared of you, in a way.” 

“Thanks for your help,” Lena said, standing up from her seat again, “I’m gunna have to think up something to fix this.” 

Lena was up late playing a round of fetch with Fareeha when Jesse stumbled his way towards the back porch of the house. She raised an eyebrow at him as he got to the bottom of the steps, pausing when he realised both her and Fareeha’s eyes were on him. He gave a frustrated grunt and sat down on the stairs with his boots in the grass. 

Fareeha watched him and tilted her head before walking to him and laying down with her head resting on the tops of his shoes. Lena leaned down and picked up the ball from where Fareeha had dropped it at her feet, trying to think of what to say. She licked her lips and fiddled with the tennis ball. 

“Rough night?” She asked, already cringing at her inability to come up with something better.

“Somethin’ like that,” Jesse murmured, reaching down to scratch Fareeha between her ears, “Had a fight with Genji earlier.” 

“Fight?” Lena shifted on the edge of the porch to face him as best as she could, “What’d you guys fight about?” She didn’t like the sound of that. Not after having given Genji advice just the other day about dating Jesse.

“Genji came to me, askin’ for us to try make it work. He wants to be with me and I wanna be with him too but I dunno. It’s just too hard.” He sighed, taking his hat off and putting it aside. Lena could smell the alcohol on his breath from here. 

“Too hard?” She could feel anger bubbling inside her. Lena wasn’t quite sure when she got so emotionally invested in this but she couldn’t stop herself, “How hard is it for you to not stick your dick in something for five minutes?”

Fareeha whined quietly, obviously not liking where this conversation was going. 

Jesse scoffed, “Two things. One, it ain’t really any of your business how and when I stick my dick in things. Two, it’s more than just sex that’s a problem.” 

“Oh,” Lena felt herself shrink, “What else is standing in the way then?” 

“The fact that I’m gunna live forever and Genji’s gunna die at a normal age. Maybe he’ll reach a’ hundred if he’s real lucky,” He shrugged, “Can’t let myself get attached to him. I’m undead.” 

“I see,” She pursed her lips, racking her brain for some kind of response, “Wouldn’t it be worth it though? Getting like sixty to eighty good years with Genji instead of nothing?” 

“I guess…” Jesse trailed off, “I need time to think.” 

Lena couldn’t help but roll her eyes before tossing the tennis ball at his head, “Maybe instead of getting drunk and sticking your dick in some hole somewhere, you should talk to Genji. He seems pretty convinced you won’t be with him purely ‘cause he won’t put out.” 

She watched as he rubbed at his forehead where the ball had bounced off and pursed his lips, “I guess you’re right. I’m bein’ a real idiot.” 

“Yes, you are,” Lena grumbled, “At least wait until tomorrow evening to talk to him. Maybe when you reek a little less of whiskey and sex.” She waved her hand in front of her face.

Fareeha jumped up into his lap, licking his face while whining happily. 

Jesse laughed and tried to push her back to the ground, “Alright, alright. I get it, you think she’s right and I’m bein’ an idiot.” He picked up the tennis ball, waiting for Fareeha to see it before tossing it as hard as he could.

Lena smiled as Fareeha bolted after the tennis ball, running through the field in the pitch black of night. Jesse stood up from the steps with a groan that reminded Lena of an old man before picking up his hat and putting it on his head, making his way back inside the house. She found herself wondering when she started playing matchmaker, but then again, there really wasn’t much to do all the way out here. 


	8. Lessons in Being a Vampire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Miss Vanjie... Miss Vanjie.... Miss... Vaaaaannnjie...

The next evening when Lena woke up, it was to a knock at the hatch to the attic. She grumbled and rolled out of bed, stumbling the first few steps as she walked and knelt at the side of the hatch, pulling it open. It was Genji waiting on the other side of it this time so Lena extended a hand to help him up. 

He raised his hand to stop her, “I’m not here to visit this time. Ana has asked for us all to meet her downstairs and told me to come get you.” Genji said with a smile. 

“Oh, sure.” She said, waiting for him to get off the ladder before climbing down herself. 

Once she was on the fourth floor, she noticed the shirt Genji was wearing. A bright pink Hello Kitty t-shirt. Lena stared at it with a smirk for a moment before they both headed down the stairs without saying anything more. She found herself wondering what Ana would want to speak to them all about in such a formal way. 

Every single one of them crowded themselves into the dining room, taking a seat at the big oak table. Lena was surprised to see that even Amelie had come down for this impromptu meeting but unsurprised to see she was refusing to speak to anyone. Ana took a seat at the head of the table next to the door and rapt her knuckles against the top of it to get their attention. They all went silent for her. 

“I’ve asked you all to come down here because I received some… worrying news from a friend of mine living in Texas,” Ana started, crossing her legs under the table, “There have been multiple cases of cryptids being kidnapped around the country. We believe it is at least two people, one of whom may be a large man with dark skin - possibly a Waheela or another type of shifter. The rest of the details seem to vary from report to report.” 

“Oh damn,” Jesse said, tapping his fingers on the table, “They got any idea how many cryptids they’ve taken so far?”

“At least ten. Possibly more,” Ana said with a small shrug, “There’s no way to be certain because of the amount of cryptids who live alone or are from communities who won’t speak to outsiders. With the speed that they took just the ten we  _ know _ are gone, it could easily be more like thirty or forty.” 

“Is there any way they’d know we’re out here?” Angela asked as she leaned forward and folded her arms on top of the table, “How many of your contacts know exactly where we are?” 

“My contacts in the cryptid world wouldn’t give us up, I know that for certain,” She licked her lips, “However, they might be able to guess our location anyway. We are in one of the ranches, after all.” 

The room broke into loud chatter, all of them discussing what this could mean and wondering how much danger they were really in. Lena, however, was silent. She was confused about what half of all that even meant. What’s the ranch got to do with it? What’s a Waheela? 

Lena waited a few minutes, hoping for a time where the chatter would quiet down but when she realised that wasn’t coming, she cleared her throat, “Sorry, could you tell me why the ranch is so important?” 

Angela turned in her seat to look at Lena directly, “This ranch here in Kentucky is one of a few that are pretty much just like this. They are protected by Faes, just like myself, and keep cryptids safe even if they’re not in their usual communities.” 

“Yes, when Fareeha was turned into a Werewolf, I did my research,” Ana said, resting her hands in her lap, “I spoke to as many cryptids as possible and I was informed this area not only attracts varying types of cryptids but also has some degree of protection for us. We’ve not been bothered the entire time we’ve been settled here.” 

“Right, so, we’d be fine if none of us leave, yeah? They - the Waheely thing or whatever - shouldn’t be able to get us if we’re here?” Lena asked, waving her hand as she tried to push past not knowing how to pronounce the names of that cryptid.

“Waheela,” Ana corrected, “Being on the ranch would protect us if they were human. There’d be a good chance they wouldn’t even know we were here if they were, but, since they’re probably both cryptids they may have a very good chance of finding us. Regardless, no one leaves the property unless  _ absolutely _ necessary.” 

Lena leaned over to Fareeha who was sitting next to her. It was strange to see her both in human form and fully dressed for once, “What’s a Waheela?” She asked in a hushed tone. 

Fareeha leaned closer and licked her lips, “A Waheela is much like a shapeshifter. They look exactly like normal humans until they shift and become a big wolf-bear hybrid. Waheela usually keep to themselves and if they need to, they  _ will  _ rip you apart. They’re like twelve feet tall.” 

“Jesus.” Lena murmured under her breath. She opened her mouth to speak again but was interrupted by Ana clearing her throat, trying to bring everyone’s attention back to her once more. 

“The current working theory is that they could be working with the government in some capacity. We’re not quite sure yet but if that’s the case, this is a much more greater threat than just any kidnapping of cryptids. I want you all to take it  _ seriously _ ,” Ana said, standing up from her seat now, “I can’t stress that enough.” 

Lena watched quietly as Ana made her exit and the rest of the group quickly dispersed after her. She tried to look around for Amelie in hopes to catch her before she left but noticed she was gone already, leaving her wondering if she’d left before Ana was even done speaking. Lena made her way after Genji who she could see was exiting the dining room by the quick dash of his pink shirt. 

“Hey Genji!” She called out, jogging to catch up with him as he made his way out onto the back porch from the kitchen. 

“Yeah?” Genji stopped, turning to face her with a smile. 

“Just wanted to ask you about things with Jesse. He spoken to you yet?” 

“Oh, yeah. He came to speak to me a few hours ago looking quite hungover,” He smiled and took a seat on the slightly torn seat, “Jesse told me you ‘smacked some sense into him’ and he came to my room to ask for us to get back together again. Thank you, Lena.”

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome,” She gave him a shy smile, “I didn’t really do much, just told him to stop sticking his dick in things, y’know.” Lena took the chair next to his, dropping down into the cushions.

Genji nodded and rested his chin on his palm, “Regardless, thank you.” 

Lena nodded, and then raised an eyebrow. “Now. We need to talk about that Hello Kitty shirt.”

Lena made her way back up to the attic, going to get changed after Gabriel had informed her that he would be taking her out into the fields that night to give her a bit more of a run down on how being a Vampire works. She was both excited and afraid to find out more about herself and her future. 

She climbed up into the attic through the hatch and dropped it back down before making her way to her bed, sitting down on the edge of it when she heard a yelp. Lena jumped up from the edge of the mattress and stared at her bedsheets. She’d left it in a messy pile before she left but she didn’t remember leaving anything underneath it, nothing that could make noise anyway. 

Jamison sat up and pushed the covers off himself with a pout, “You should watch where you sit, mate. Nearly crushed my fingers!” He said, cradling his left hand. 

Lena’s brow furrowed, “You’re the one in  _ my  _ room, hiding in  _ my _ bed. I’m not the one who has to be careful,” She sat back down with a sigh, avoiding Jamison this time, “What the fuck are you doing in my bed anyway?”

“I’m here ‘cause I need your help. You got Genji and Jesse back together and fixed that, so I want you to do the same for me.” Jamison said, sitting up and shuffling to the edge of the mattress. 

“The same?” She asked, picking up a pair of used socks off the ground before reaching down to put them on, “Who is it that you’re interested in?” 

“Fareeha,” He said with a happy sigh, “I think I’m in love.” 

“This recent or …?” Lena raised an eyebrow at him, standing up and walking to pick out a new set of clothes. 

“Saw her eating up some foxes out in the fields, never seen something so beautiful!” Jamison clapped his hands together, grinning widely at Lena with his sharp teeth.

She couldn’t help but stare at him. Lena was both confused and unsurprised by his bizarre interest in Fareeha, “I’m not really sure what you want me to do, Jamie.”

“You could talk to her! You did that with the other guys.” 

“Yeah, I guess I could,” She pursed her lips and reclaimed her seat on the edge of the bed, “Fine, I’ll talk to her but I make no promises about what she’ll say about it.” 

Jamison jumped up from the bed with a squeal and headed down the hatch, leaving the attic without another word. Lena decided she needed to stop being surprised by how strange things around here could get.

When Lena arrived at the cornfields like she had been told, she’d found Gabriel waiting with his back to her. He was dressed in black from head to toe, starting with a beanie and ending with a pair of leather combat boots. She raised an eyebrow at the dramatic coat that went to his knees but chose to say nothing about it as she approached him. 

“Hey Gabriel.” She called out, announcing her presence.

Gabriel turned on the spot to look at her, a small smile playing on his lips, “You ready?” 

“Ready for what?” Lena asked as she now stood at his side. 

“I’m going to show you what a Vampire can do. I’m sure you’ve figured out some of it just by existing but I’m going to run you through it anyway,” He gave her a smirk, “Hope you’re not too attached to those clothes.” 

Before Lena could respond, Gabriel kicked her square in the chest and sent her flying. She didn’t even have a chance to register what had happened until she was tumbling along the grass. Gabriel had easily sent her twenty metres with just the one kick. As he was walking towards her, she realised he hadn’t even winded her with it. She didn’t feel any pain from what had happened at all. 

Gabriel extended a hand out to her, helping her back to her feet with a smile, “Vampires are both stronger and faster than regular humans. Not as much as some other cryptids, of course, but enough that it can make quite the difference,” He watched as Lena brushed dirt and grass off her clothes, “You can also see that it takes a lot to hurt a Vampire.” 

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t feel anything after that kick and tumble. Would’ve thought it would’ve hurt or something or left me a little winded, maybe.” Lena said with a shrug. 

“Vampires are a lot more sturdy than humans. It takes a lot to injure us, let alone kill us. Forget anything you know about the holy crap that movies and TV says can harm us. It’s mostly just being torn apart and having your head cut off,” He pursed his lips in thought, “Stake to the heart would work too.” 

“Good to know,” She paused, narrowing her eyes at him, “I think.” 

“Best to know that stuff now before you panic over being splashed with holy water or being near garlic or something.” Gabriel said with a chuckle.

“Makes sense,” Lena conceded, “Anything else I should know about?” 

He nodded, “How much do you know about your diet?” 

“My diet?” Lena asked with a raised eyebrow, “We’re Vampires, we drink blood, yeah?” 

Gabriel smirked, “That’s the simplified version, yes. We do drink blood and we need it to survive, but has Ana told you that you’re also able to consume regular human food?” 

“What?” Her jaw dropped, “ _ Really _ ? I missed out on pizza the other day because I thought I couldn’t eat it.”

He let out a husky laugh at that, “Yes, you can eat normal food. Just not too much of it. If you limit yourself to a couple meals a week, you should be fine,” He removed his beanie and ran his fingers through his hair, “Has Ana spoken to you about bag feeding versus live feeding?” 

“Live feeding?” She asked, chewing her lip. Lena could make a guess as to what that was already but waited for Gabriel to answer.

“Yeah, you’re currently getting the blood you need from bags but there’s also the option to drink from a living being. I assume she’s left that to me to talk about. You’re a bit… limited with your options around here but a lot of Vampires these days drink blood from other cryptids rather than humans.” 

“Really?” Lena asked, tilting her head, “I didn’t know you could do that. Guess it makes sense.” 

“Yeah, most cryptids are fine for you to drink from as long as you get their permission, of course. It’s easier and comes with less risk than drinking from a human. Obviously there are Vampires out there who don’t care, which is how you ended up how you are.” 

“So, you’d recommend I wait until I go home and find some other cryptids before doing live feeding stuff?” She asked, scratching the back of her head.

“I mean, you could probably get a few people here to let you if you asked,” Gabriel shrugged before pausing, giving Lena a much more serious look, “Go home, Lena? Are you expecting to be able to go home to London soon?” 

“I mean…” She trailed off, starting to feel embarrassed and sheepish, “Yeah? I can’t stay in rural Kentucky forever. I do have a life.”

“Correction, you  _ did _ have one. You can’t return to your previous life as if nothing happened. This,” He said, gesturing to the ranch property around them, “Isn’t temporary. You might leave Kentucky and go somewhere else, but you won’t be going back home. Not without creating far more problems.” 

“Oh.” Lena murmured, fiddling with her fingers and staring at the ground. Fear and anxiety began setting in. She hadn’t given much thought to what would be coming next but at the back of her mind she  _ had _ been acting as if this was temporary. 

“I guess I should tell you now, then. I’ll be taking you up to Ohio, to Dayton, in a few days to sort you out a brand new identity to make living here in America easier,” Gabriel placed a hand on Lena’s upper back, running his palm up and down to comfort her, “We’ll also have to fake your death to round things up for you back in England.” 

“Fake my own death?” Her jaw dropped. She hadn’t expected something quite that extreme. 

“Yes, the last thing we need is your friends, family, employer or whatever coming around and asking questions about where you’ve gone. Don’t worry, the people we’ll be seeing are the best in the business,” He gave her a reassuring smile, “Let’s go back inside, yeah?” He asked as he made his way back towards the house. 

“Sure, sounds good.” Lena mumbled to herself, trailing along behind him. 

Tonight had been a lot worse than she’d been expecting.


	9. Poking the Dragon

Lena had spent the next day hiding in her room up in the attic after Gabriel had told her about how she would not be returning to her life in London. She felt painfully naive for having acted as if the things that come with being a Vampire would only be temporary. Even though she’d been drinking blood and living around other cryptids, it’d had seemed almost like a dream until last night.

After being left alone for an entire day and night without any interruptions, she suspected that Gabriel and Ana had told people she would need some space. She was grateful and embarrassed at them doing that but at the same time it was what she needed. The emotion from it all had hit her all at once, suddenly feeling very real.

The next day Lena finally slinked her way down from her room and into the kitchen, fishing a bag of blood out of the fridge. She hadn’t experienced true hunger since the night she’d been turned but she knew what the sensation was when she felt her throat begin to ache and her head begin to pound.

In the kitchen, Lena found Sombra standing at the counter, cutting up some onions to mix into whatever it was she was making in a pan on the stove. It smelt very good and Lena couldn’t help but eye it enviously as she drained the bag of blood using her fangs. She hadn’t realised exactly how intently she’d been staring until Sombra spoke up.

“Do you want some?” Sombra asked with a smirk playing on her lips, “You look like you’re about to murder me for my food, chica.”

Lena blinked at her, taking a few moments to process that she’d spoken, “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to stare, it’s just been awhile since I ate real food.”  

Sombra shrugged and picked up the wooden cutting board, pushing the diced onion into the pan, “Like I said, do you want some? I’ve got enough for me and Satya twice over.”

“I mean… If you wouldn’t mind sharing.” She said, tossing her empty blood bag into the trash can.

“If it’ll get you to stop sulking in your room, you can have all the food you want.” Sombra teased, sticking her tongue out at Lena.

Lena felt her face warm at that comment. She knew Sombra was just teasing but it must have been obvious that she was hiding away and upset if even she knew about it. Lena hadn’t seen Sombra or her girlfriend Satya other than the first time they met and the meeting Ana had called in the other day. They didn’t seem particularly involved in the house.

“Thanks, I guess,” Lena mumbled and took a seat at the small table in the kitchen, watching Sombra cook, “You’re a shapeshifter, yeah?”

“Si,” She answered, mixing around the food in the pan, “You wanna know what that means, amiga?”

Lena nodded, “If you don’t mind talking about it.”

Sombra waved her hand to gesture as if it doesn’t matter, “Shapeshifters are born, not turned. My entire family was hunted and killed by the Sisterhood of Iron when they were sniffing around in Mexico a long time ago. I only managed to get away from the help of my mother who’d given me a headstart and acted as a distraction…” She trailed off, turning to face away from Lena as she began preparing some more vegetables on the cutting board, “I was lucky because I’d been pretty good at shifting from a young age and they couldn’t find me. Hid as a mouse in a sewer. I drifted a lot after that.”

“Jesus.” Lena murmured, watching Sombra closely.

Sombra cleared her throat and sniffed, “They’d pretty much massacred my family and all the other families in our community. I haven’t met any other shapeshifters like myself since then, not that I’ve really tried looking. Found this place when I was researching a few years ago while working for some… Fairly shady people. Ana took me in so I wouldn’t have to do that anymore, I now work for her. It’s how we survive so comfortably, my freelance work.”

Lena chewed her lip, racking her brain for what to say after all that, “I’m sorry about your family. I’ve never heard of the Sisterhood of Iron though. What’re they? They sound like a metal band.”

“Oh, right. I keep forgetting that you’re new to this stuff,” Sombra said, turning back to face her now as she put her diced vegetables into the pan, “They’re some freaky religious nunhood thing that’s practically devoted to ‘ridding the world of evil.’ Don’t think they actually do much besides that.”

“Is it bad that the mental image that gives me is a bunch of scary nuns with swords and maces and stuff?” Lena said with a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood for Sombra.

“I mean, you’re not too far from it, chica,” Sombra picked up a wooden spoon and began stirring, “They used to be like that, at least. They’re still nuns but they don’t wear the whole habit get up thing anymore. The Sisterhood of Iron is a lot more modern these days and funded by a whole bunch of shady groups and people, it’s part of what I spend my spare time on, trying to find out more information on them.”

“Makes sense with your past,” She said, folding her arms on the table, “You got any plans for that information?”

“Well, for the most part, knowing more about them keeps all of us safe. I pass the information onto Ana and she passes it onto other cryptids in different cities,” She pursed her lips and turned to face Lena completely, “I’m also working on taking every single one of them down, but that’s more of a hobby.”

“Take them down as in ruining their lives or killing them?”

“Either or. Depends on what’s possible.” Sombra said nonchalantly, shrugging before returning to her dish.

Lena nodded and chose to say nothing. She couldn’t judge Sombra for that, not when these women were raising funds and going on kill missions to remove cryptids. Sombra dished out the food and brought Lena a large plate of it, sitting down at the table as well. She passed Lena a knife and fork and they both dug in.

When Sombra was finished eating her food, she stood up and made her way to the sink to clear her plate before sticking it in the dishwasher, “Have you met Satya yet?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean, kinda? Not really, why?” Lena asked in between the last few bites of her food. She didn’t _need_ it but it was certainly satisfying to eat real food.

She picked up a spare plate of food she’d set aside, “How about you come up and meet her then?” Sombra grinned at her.

* * *

 

Sombra brought Lena to a bedroom on the second floor and it was a large one from what she could tell on the outside. It was the only bedroom on this side of the house for this floor. Lena watched as Sombra fished out her key and unlocked the room, letting the both of them inside where they were met with Satya sitting right next to a pile of valuables in the corner.

Lena raised an eyebrow in confusion while Sombra made her way over with a grin, stopping just a metre away from Satya. The pile she was sitting next to was made up of physical cash (both coins and notes), watches, jewellery, and a few bars of solid gold. It was one of the strangest things Lena had seen since she’d arrived, second only to the time Roadhog showed her his mouth and what it could do.

“You remember Lena, don’t you, Satya?” Sombra asked with a smile, gesturing towards Lena who stood close to the door still.

“I do,” Satya examined Lena closely, pursing her lips, “I do not like how she is staring at my collection.”

Sombra looked back at Lena, connecting the dots between her staring and the way Satya was becoming uncomfortable, “Don’t worry, princesa. She doesn’t want your things, she’s just confused.”

Lena lifted her eyes to flick between the two of them, now even more confused with Sombra’s excuse, “Sorry?”

“Satya is just nervous because of how you were staring at her stuff. She’s worried that you might try to take what’s hers, but I know you won’t, you’re staring because you’re confused, si?” Sombra asked, folding her arms against her chest.

“Yeah, guess so,” Lena scratched her head, “Why’ve you guys got a big pile of valuable stuff in your bedroom?”

“I am a Dragon,” Satya started, standing up from her chair and gesturing to the pile, “And this is my hoard.”  
  
Lena looked carefully at Satya, then at the gold. “Um. No offense, but… You don’t really _look_ like a dragon?” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sombra cough into her hand – actually, no, she was pretty sure the other woman was laughing.   
  
Fortunately, Satya didn’t seem offended by the question, “Are you familiar with the principle of dimorphism?”   
  
Lena frowned, “Sort of? Isn’t that like where a peacock and a peahen look totally different?”   
  
“Yes,” Satya confirmed with a nod, “Precisely.”   
  
Lena thought about that for a moment, then made the connection, “ _Ohhhh_ . So you’re not very dragon-y because it’s like… Camouflage?”   
  
“That is essentially correct,” Satya confirmed as she put a hand on one of the stacks of bills. “We share a large amount of traits with humans, and we look exactly the same as human women of our relative age, however, we have… Certain needs.”   
  
“She means gold,” Sombra winked.   
  
Satya gave her an exasperated look, but there was fondness in her eyes, “Normally we form nests to hoard our gold together, but I am the last of my… Community.”   
  
“The last? Jesus,” Lena murmured. Neither Satya nor Sombra seemed to have it easy, “What happened?”   
  
“Has Sombra told you what happened to her family?”   
  
Lena nodded, biting her lip as she realized what must have happened.   
  
“My past is similar,” She looked over at Sombra, who came over and put a hand on her shoulder, “I was very young when they discovered my nest. An accident, I believe, while they were searching for… Something else,” Her voice grew quiet, “We had very little experience with them. We did not know what to expect, or how to defend ourselves properly. Others may have escaped, but to the best of my knowledge I was the only one to survive,” Satya paused, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, “They do not know that I exist, so I hide here due to Ana’s kindness, since I would prefer to keep it that way.”

Lena looked between the two of them, seeing why Satya and Sombra would have become so close in the first place right away, “I’m sorry those wankers got away with what they did to you and your people. I don’t really know what to say, never heard of anything like any of this before.”

Satya nodded and was silent for a few moments before speaking, “It must have been hard for you to have been turned into a Vampire in the way that it happened.”

“I guess,” Lena was surprised to hear that from someone with a background like that, “It didn’t really hit me at first, not until Gabriel gave me a wake up call the other night. You guys sharing your stories has helped me put things into perspective though.”

“How so, amiga?” Sombra pulled out an office chair from behind a desk and took a seat.

“Well, part of why I was so upset was that I realised I’d never see my family and friends again back home if we’re faking my death and getting me a new identity,” Lena shrugged, “But, you guys talking about what happened to you makes me realise that even if I don’t get to see them again, I know they’re safe and alive which is more than you guys got.”

Satya stared at Lena blankly for a moment, making her think that she must have said something wrong before she went in for a hug. It was stiff and unusual but she could feel the emotion behind Satya’s embrace. Lena raised an eyebrow at Sombra over her shoulder but wrapped her arms around her slowly in return.

“God, it’s so hot in here.” Lena complained, fanning herself.

Satya gave her a smirk as she stepped back to reclaim her seat, “I _am_ a Dragon.”


	10. Yellow Springs and Jackals

Lena had only gotten four hours sleep after spending time with Sombra and Satya when there was a knock on her hatch. She grunted as she rolled and forced her way out of bed, walking over to it and pulling it open. Ana was waiting on the ladder for her with a small smirk on her face. 

“Are you ready?” She asked.

Lena rubbed at her eye with the back of her hand, “Ready for what?” She mumbled.

“I’m taking you shopping for your room and clothes,” Ana examined her pyjamas up and down, “I can see you’re  _ not _ ready, though. Meet me downstairs by the door in ten minutes.” She then began climbing down the ladder and Lena let the hatch drop. 

“Right, sure.” She murmured to herself now that Ana was gone. 

Lena got up from kneeling beside the hatch and walked towards her wobbly draws, searching through them for a clean set of clothes to wear. She decided on a pair of black jeans, a plain blue shirt and found the cleanest pair of socks she had before getting dressed. After swiping her sunglasses off her bedside table, she made her way down the hatch and the ladder, heading down to the ground floor. 

Ana was waiting for her out on the front porch, talking with Jack. She cleared her throat as she walked out the front door to get her attention. 

“I see you’re completely awake now. Ready to go?” Ana asked again. 

“I’m ready,” Lena nodded to Ana, “Hi Jack.” She added. 

Jack grumbled his own greeting before making his way back inside the house. Lena watched him leave and shrugged, deciding to let whatever he was grumpy about go. She watched as Ana made her way down the front steps and headed to a faded green pick up truck. It looked to be nearly as old as Lena was. 

Lena followed her way over and waited for Ana to unlock the truck before climbing into the passenger side. The car took two attempts to start before they pulled out of the property and onto the road. She couldn’t keep herself from looking out the window the entire time as they drove, she hadn’t left the ranch since she first arrived when she’d been attacked. 

It wasn’t particularly exciting, mostly open fields and dirt. Occasionally there were some cows along the way until they got much closer to Bardstown. The entire journey was silent until they came into town and Ana pulled the truck into a parking spot right in front of a small shopping centre. She got out of the truck and walked towards the front door of the furniture store, heading inside. 

The store was practically empty barring the woman behind the counter. She was easily in her forties and not interested in being here at all. Lena could see the dark rings under her eyes from the front door. It took a few minutes to weave all the way through the furniture towards the back of the store where all the dressers were on display and Lena began fiddling with them as she waited for Ana.

“Found any that you like?” Ana asked, standing on the other side of the dresser that Lena was testing the drawers on. 

“Most of them are fine. This one,” She said as she ran a palm along the top of it, “Is the cheapest one.” 

Ana gave her a small smile, “Money is not a worry for us, but, I won’t turn down the option to spend less if you’re happy with it.” 

Lena shrugged and tapped the top of the dresser, heading to the front counter where she pointed out which one she wanted. The woman manning the counter, named Brenda now that Lena could see her name tag, rolled her eyes and rang up the order on the register before taking Ana’s card to charge it.

Brenda called one of the men out the back of the store in to pick up the dresser that Lena had chosen and take it to the truck outside. While he and Ana worked on securing the dresser to the flatbed in the back, Lena made her way down the road to the small department store. It was almost the same size as the the furniture store, half of which was dedicated to off brand clothing.

She made her way into the store, grabbing a basket on the way in and at first headed to the women’s clothing section. It didn’t take her long to realise that the kind of clothes here were made up mostly of dresses, sweatpants with words like ‘Juicy’ printed on the ass, and weird tank tops. Lena grabbed a few sets of underwear and socks before making her way out of there as fast as possible, choosing to search through the men’s section instead. 

The clothes here were just as tacky but a little bit more fun. Lena decided to pick out a t-shirt that read ‘World’s Best Dad’ plus two hawaiian shirts. If she was going to buy some hideous clothes she might as well have fun with it. She also managed to grab a few plain shirts and two pairs of pants, tossing them into her basket. 

Lena was in the middle of trying on the clothes she’d picked out when there was a knock on the dressing room door, “Just a minute!” She called out as she quickly pulled the pants up to her hips, buttoning them up. 

Ana was waiting on the other side of the door when she opened the latch and stepped out. Her eyes flicked over the gaudy hawaiian shirt Lena was wearing, “Seriously?” 

“Yeah, why not? They’ve not got much better.” Lena said with a shrug. 

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, trying to hide the smile on her lips, “I’ll just meet you at the counter when you’re done then.” 

“Alright.” Lena closed the door of the dressing room and locked it again, making her way through trying on the rest of the pile. 

When she was done, she tossed all the clothing into basket and walked back through the store to where she remembered seeing the front counter. Lena passed through the book section and her eyes flicked over the varying titles as she passed. If Ana had said money was no issue, she figured she’d be able to get away with taking a few books for herself when she couldn’t use her own funds anymore. 

Lena picked out a few different books that she recognised the titles of and put them on top of her clothes in the basket. As she was passing through the aisle, one book caught her eye in particular and gave her an idea. She picked it up, it was titled ‘American Sign Language’. After Ana’s explanation about why Amélie rarely talks or leaves her room, she wondered if this would be a good alternative. 

Ana was waiting patiently for her at the front counter, looking through a small candle display in front of the register. When Lena stood behind her, she cleared her throat to get her attention before putting the basket on top. The two of them plus the pimply teenage boy behind the counter were silent as the items were rung up and paid for by Ana.

* * *

 

When they returned home from Bardstown, Ana marched over to the barn out the back and demanded that Jamison and Roadhog come around front to help move the dresser inside. Lena made her own way inside and up the staircase to her room in the attic, beginning to unpack the clothes from the old dresser to make room for the new one. 

She sat on the edge of her bed, watching curiously as Jamison knelt by the edge of the hatch and leaned over to try take his end of the dresser. Roadhog didn’t bother trying to climb the ladder, simply holding it up in the air for Jamison to take it. Lena watched as he failed multiple times to get a proper hold and pull it up over the edge of the latch before hearing Roadhog grunt from below. 

Jamison only had half a second to get out of the way before the dresser was forcibly pushed up by Roadhog, gaining a little bit of air before hitting the floor of the attic. Lena had jumped off the bed in fright while Jamison was giggling at the show of strength. 

“We should get you more things to throw around, right Roadie?” Jamison grinned and leaned over the edge to look back down at him. Lena only heard Roadhog grunt in response before pulling Jamison down through the hatch with one tug. 

Lena rolled her eyes with a smile and got to work with packing most of her clothes into the new dresser. She left some of them to the side to put into a bag for later, knowing that she and Gabriel were leaving the ranch later that night. He hadn’t given her any information besides the fact that they were going up to Ohio and that it was to see a friend of his that could help her. 

Before she could go, though, Lena had something she wanted to round up first. She climbed down the ladder and closed the hatch door behind herself. Even if she knew this wouldn’t go too well and might even be a bit awkward, she  _ did _ promise Jamison that she would speak to Fareeha for him. 

She walked down the main staircase to the first floor, finding Fareeha’s room right next to Gabriel’s and knocking on the door. It took a few moments before Lena heard someone moving around inside and the door opened with Fareeha putting her head through. 

“Oh, hey,” She said, running her fingers through her hair, “Something you need?”

“I gotta talk to you about something, love. You mind letting me in?” Lena gave her a grin to reassure her. 

“Yeah, sure,” Fareeha mumbled before stepping back and holding the door open for her, “What’s it about?” 

“It’s about Jamie.” She said as she stepped into the room, hearing Fareeha close the door behind her. 

The room was immaculate and well organised with four posters on the wall that were framed and hung. It was completely different from the state of her own room - dusty - and the state of Genji’s when she last saw it. Lena wasn’t surprised by it. Fareeha did feel like she was much older than the rest of them sometimes. 

“What about Jamie?” Fareeha asked with a raise brow, leaning against the edge of her desk. 

Lena took a seat on the edge of Fareeha’s bed, doing her best to not mess up the tightly folded sheets, “Well,” She started, pursing her lips as she wondered how to phrase it, “I don’t know if you noticed but he has a bit of a thing - a crush - on you.”

She was surprised when Fareeha snorted a laugh in response, “I’ve noticed. It’s hard to miss a guy who looks like he does, skulking around and waiting to see me in my were form. He’s even brought me rabbits before.” 

“Is he bothering you?” Lena frowned.

“No, definitely not. Jamie is  _ far _ from any kind of threat,” Fareeha shrugged her shoulders with a smile, “I’m not even sure he even really has a crush on me. He’s more fascinated by me attacking animals than interested on taking me on a date any time soon.” 

She felt a little better hearing that. At least she wouldn’t have to give Jamison a talk about how to be less creepy, “You want me to tell him to settle down a bit then, love?” 

“Don’t worry about it, he’ll work it out on his own that I’m not interested in him and he’s not  _ really _ interested in me as a person,” She gave a shy smile as she pulled the chair from her desk out and took a seat facing Lena, “Besides, my feelings lie elsewhere.” 

“Elsewhere?” Lena asked, swallowing hard. She had a feeling she was about to be roped into playing matchmaker yet again. 

A blush creeped against Fareeha’s cheeks, “I might have a crush or two of my own.” 

“More than one?” She couldn’t help the smile growing on her lips. Even if she was going to be playing matchmaker, at least it would be interesting. 

“Well, I’ll be honest. I thought you were pretty cute at first but it’s obvious how much you’re drooling over Amélie,” She huffed a laugh, resting her ankle on the knee of her other leg, “You’re also a bit young for me.” 

Lena’s head tilted to the side, “Young? You can’t be that much older than me.” 

“I’m a bit older than you think,” Fareeha smirked before continuing, “Not that it matters…” She trailed off, fiddling with her fingers nervously, “It’s hard though, everyone else here seems to be paired off and this ranch is in the middle of nowhere so my dating prospects are a bit tanked by it.” 

“Not that it matters?” Lena asked. Everything about how Fareeha was acting said the opposite.

“Well, even if I  _ did _ have any interest in someone or multiple people, they’re taken so there’s not even a point in discussing any of it.” 

Lena stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry, “You never know until you try. Not saying you should go out and break them up or whatever, but who is it that you’ve got a thing for, love?” 

Fareeha let out a sigh, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, “I have a thing for Somba  _ and _ Satya.” 

“Right,” She started, folding her arms against her chest, “Do you wanna go for it or do you think it’s a bit of a dead end?” 

“Go for it?” She asked, confused. 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s worth a shot. You never know what those two would say to the idea of dating you as well,” Lena said, shrugging, “Other option is you move away from here. You don’t have to keep living here just because your mum runs the place.”

Fareeha sighed again and relaxed against the chair, “Leaving would be a big risk. There’s no guaranteed protection and there’s definitely no guarantee that any sort of pack would take me in another city so I could end up on my own.” 

“There’s no shame in that, love. If things don’t work out, I’m sure your mum would be happy to bring you back here, y’know?” Lena gave Fareeha her best reassuring smile, “Why not give this thing with Sombra and Satya a try? If it doesn’t work out, you can always try moving somewhere else if you need to and know that this place is here if you ever need it.” 

After a few moments of silence, she spoke, “You’re right. I shouldn’t stop trying to shy away from doing what I want to do,” Fareeha stood up and grinned down at Lena, “You’re not too bad at this advice thing for someone who’s shamelessly drooling and pining after a woman you barely know.” 

“Oi!”

After everyone had dinner in the dining room, Lena returned to the attic and packed her bag for the trip with Gabriel. She put in enough clothes for four days plus her sunglasses and toiletries before remembering the book she’d bought earlier. Lena got up and grabbed it from where she’d left it on the top of the dresser, quickly flicking through it. She didn’t know what this trip would be like or whether she’d have much down time to even read it but Lena put the book in her bag just in case.

She made her way down from the attic with the bag slung over her shoulder and out to the front of the house, standing on the porch. Gabriel was already over by one of the trucks that Ana owned, obviously waiting for her so they could leave. Lena gave him a quick wave and jumped down from the porch before walking over to him.

“You ready?” He asked, one hand wrapped around the door handle and the other on his hip.

“Not really sure what I need to be ready for, love. But yeah, I’m ready.” Lena said with a grin, walking around the truck to the passenger side door. 

Gabriel unlocked the car using the remote and the both of them climbed into the seats, buckling themselves in. They pulled out of the ranch and began driving down the main road, heading towards Ohio. The views were even less interesting at night so Lena found herself reading her book twenty minutes into the drive. 

She could see from the corner of her eye that Gabriel was watching her as she tried to practice the hand gestures as she read along with the book. He seemed to be too polite to ask what she was doing and Lena didn’t feel like explaining so they sat in silence for the majority of the journey.

* * *

 

It took just over three hours for them to arrive. She’d watched as they entered Dayton, Ohio and made their way into a smaller town that was close by called Yellow Springs. Lena noticed as they drove through that most of the buildings had an almost hippie kind of vibe. It was all very colourful and had some purposefully rustic, run down elements to its style. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t what she’d been expecting for where they’d go to fake her death. 

Gabriel parked the truck outside a three story townhouse made of red-orange bricks. The building itself didn’t seem to quite match the aesthetic of the township they’d just driven through but the garden and art in the front yard attempted to make up for it. Lena hopped out of the car and picked her bag up, slipping her book back into it. Gabriel grabbed his own bag and headed up the path to the front door of the house. 

Lena walked around the truck and took a few extra quick steps to be able to follow Gabriel’s fast pace. He waited for her to be standing by his side before knocking on the front door three times and pausing. It took nearly five minutes for them to get a response but Gabriel didn’t knock again and Lena only just resisted pressing the doorbell until whoever it was answered the door. 

When the front door finally opened, the man standing behind it was different from what Lena had expected for someone who could be an ‘old friend’ of Gabriel’s. He was a man on the shorter side with long thick dreadlocks. The man didn’t look like he could be much older than thirty, giving the two of them a warm smile. 

“Gabriel. What brings you here?” The man asked, eyes flicking between both Gabriel and Lena as he waited for his answer.

“This is Lena,” Gabriel started, resting his hands on Lena’s shoulders, “She’s the recently turned Vampire I was telling you about. We need your services for her.” 

“Fair enough,” He looked right at Lena now, “Did Gabriel tell you who I am?”

“Not really, no.” Lena mumbled shyly. 

“Alright, come in and I’ll tell you what Gabe left out because he’s all angsty and mysterious.” The man left the door open for the two of them, walking down the hallway without looking back, expecting them to follow.

Lena scrambled her way through the door, doing a couple of hops to keep up with the man. Now that she was much closer, Lena could see that the man was even shorter than she was. The house was decorated mostly with a lot of music related items. There were instruments mounted on the walls, shelves filled to the brim with vinyl records and CDs, plus several nicely framed posters of varying musicians. A lot of the collection looked to be older than the man himself and Lena imagined it cost him a fortune to collect. 

They made their way into the kitchen with the man gesturing for the two of them to take a seat at the small table, “You guys like tea or coffee?” He asked, making a cup of tea for himself. 

“Tea, please.” Lena chirped, feeling a bit more comfortable now.

“Nothing for me.” Gabriel grumbled as he took his seat. 

The man joined them at the table when both teas were made, placing Lena’s down in front of her along with a carton of milk. They sat in silence for a couple minutes as they drank the tea. Lena wanted to speak but she had no idea what to say. She’d already made herself look like a fool a few different times now by asking questions. 

“Lúcio, you going to tell the girl what’s going on or what?” Gabriel grunted, staring him down as Lúcio drank his tea. 

“I guess someone has to, yeah?” He gave Gabriel a cheeky grin before looking to Lena, “My name is Lúcio and I’m a Jackal. I’m guessing that since you have no idea why you’re here, you don’t know what a Jackal is, yeah?” 

“No clue, really.” Lena admitted sheepishly. 

“Do you know of the myths in ancient Egypt about Anubis?” Lúcio asked, bringing his tea up to his lips for another sip.

“I think so. That’s the god that was half Jackal, yeah? With the Jackal head?” She answered, eyes flicking between Lúcio and Gabriel as she felt uncertain. 

“Yeah, that’s it. Well, those myths were based on my kind. Jackals are shapeshifters who deal with death, helping the living move on and providing services to those who are undead. We originally come from Africa but the Sisterhood of Iron meant we had to flee to different places. My pack moved to Brazil,” He offered Lena a warm smile, “There’s not much else I can tell you, some of it are secrets of the trade but I can help you fake your death to give your family closure and to get you a new identity that will work just as well as your old one.” 

“How do we go about doing that?” Lena asked, chewing her lip. 

“You’ll find out in the morning. Gabe, how about you take her upstairs and get some rest in the spare rooms before we get started, yeah?” Lúcio asked, though he didn’t seem to be really giving Gabriel much of a choice as he left the kitchen, heading up the stairs himself. 

Tomorrow was going to be a long and interesting day. Lena could feel it. 


	11. Time for Death

Lena woke up the following day to a few quick knocks on her door. She didn’t really remember much from the previous night, having been completely exhausted from staying up through the day and into the night to get everything done. It took a moment for Lena to paw around the bedside table for where she’d left her phone to charge, tilting it towards her to read the time. 5:04pm.

“Be out in a minute!” She called out, her words slurred from still being half asleep. 

She slumped back into the mattress for a few more minutes before finally forcing herself out of bed, pushing the covers off her body. The floorboards were cold under her feet, causing Lena to grumble in complaint before walking to her bag and pulling out a fresh set of clothes. Lena changed into a new set of underwear, pair of jeans and her wonderfully tacky hawaiian shirt that she’d bought in Bardstown. She was curious to know what Gabriel would say when he saw it. 

Lena headed down the corridor and the stairs to the ground floor of the house, trying to remember where to go from the previous night until she heard Lúcio and Gabriel talking in the kitchen. She walked in and leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms against her chest. She watched the two of them and waited for them to notice her, catching them in the middle of a conversation. .  

“-Less time than when you did it for me?” Gabriel finished his question.

“Yeah, tech has really helped speed things up. Not all Jackals like it but I’m all for spending less time doing my job. You guys should be able to leave later tonight.” Lúcio said, eyes finally finding Lena standing in the doorway.

Gabriel turned in his seat, looking over his shoulder at Lena, “What on earth are you wearing?” 

“What?” Lena pulled the front of her shirt down, giving Gabriel and Lúcio a better look at the pattern, “Don’t you like it?”

“I think I just went blind,” Gabriel grumbled, “Did Ana let you buy clothes at some god awful department store?” He continued to stare at Lena’s shirt, speaking again before she could reply, “Don’t answer that, I’ll take you shopping before we get back and you’ll get some real clothes.” 

Lena pouted and made her way over to the table, taking a seat, “So, you were saying that we should be able to go home tonight?” She asked, looking to Lúcio. 

“Yeah,” Lúcio started, still staring at the shirt Lena was wearing, “It should only take a few hours to set things up for me to organise your death and getting you a new identity is easy, Gabe already called ahead so I’ve had time to prepare.” 

“Sure, what do you need from me, love?” She gave him a warm smile. 

“It’s going to sound really weird,” He smiled back, “But I need you to come down into my basement.” 

All three of them made their way back into the main entrance way of the house, following Lúcio down a set of stairs to the basement. Lena was surprised to see it was completely different compared to the rest of the house. It was much more clinical, almost like a morgue, which made sense the more she thought about it. 

In the middle of the room, there was a large metal examination table and next to it was a camera on a tripod with a seat right in front of it. She suddenly felt a lot more nervous about what was going to happen that evening. Lena watched as Lúcio walked his way around the exam table and stood behind the camera. 

“Gabe, you can go back upstairs and wait. Might be easier for her that way.” He said without looking back at the two of them. Gabriel grunted in response and made his way back up the stairs to the rest of the house. 

“Might be easier for what?” Lena asked, bringing her thumb up to chew on her nail. 

“I know it’s going to be real awkward but you gotta take your clothes so I can take pictures,” Lúcio looked over at her, giving her a reassuring smile, “I need them for reference.”

Lena found herself hugging her chest, feeling defensive, “Reference for what?” 

“To fake your death,” He shrugged, “I need photos, hair samples, teeth molds, fingerprints, and to find your skin tone before you can leave today. It won’t be believable if they don’t have a hard time finding proof that the body isn’t yours.” 

“Oh,” Her shoulders relaxed, “Right. That makes more sense. So you create a fake body?” 

Lúcio smirked at her, “Something like that. If I told you, I wouldn’t have any trade secrets. Now, take your clothes off and stand in front of the camera.” 

* * *

Between the photos, teeth molds, fingerprints, figuring out her skin tone, and taking a sample of her hair, Lena and Lúcio spent nearly six hours in the basement. He’d done well to make the experience a lot easier for her and to make her comfortable using music and jokes. As she got dressed again completely, pulling on her hawaiian shirt, she decided to try get to know him a little better. 

“So, you’re Brazilian?” She asked, trying to probe for more information. 

“Yep,” Lúcio said as he removed the camera from the tripod, “I was born there almost a hundred years ago in Rio.” 

Lena’s jaw dropped, “A hundred years? You don’t look much older than me.” 

He laughed as he made his way over to the computer, “You’re still surprised to hear some of us live a real long time or don’t even die? You’re a Vampire, you are  _ undead _ .”

“Well,  _ yeah _ ,” She mumbled, feeling herself blush, “It’s all new to me. I still don’t even really know what you are if I’m honest, love.”

“No one really does and it’s kinda the point. Jackals used to be worshipped, particularly through Egyptian mythology but eventually the belief in that, you know,” He waved his hand in a circle, “Disappeared. People mostly just ignored us and we began working with other cryptids rather than doing anything to do with humans anymore when the Sisterhood of Iron came.” 

Lúcio sighed as he plugged the camera into the computer, turning in his chair to look at Lena, “So the packs that could relocate did. Mine chose Brazil for whatever reason,” He shrugged with a frown settling in on his face, “I live here now because we decided what was best for us was to split up when the Sisterhood started sniffing around again.” 

Lena frowned as well, walking forward and leaning on top of the exam table, “Do you think that you’ll get a chance to go back and see your pack again?” 

“Maybe someday. Probably not any time soon,” Lúcio cleared his throat and turned back to his computer, picking up a blue folder off the desk and holding it in the air, “Now, come get your new identity.” 

She eyed the folder carefully for a moment before making her way over to him, taking it out of his hands. Lena opened it up, seeing that a new birth certificate, passport, and driver’s licence were tucked inside. The passport caught her eye first, seeing that both it and the birth certificate said she had been born in Los Angeles, California. 

“I don’t have an American accent, love. Don’t you think I might get a bit caught out?” Lena asked, brow raised as she stared at Lúcio. 

“Trust me. You’ll be fine. Just say you went to college in England,” He gave her a lazy smile, “Don’t worry, your accent will change over time anyway and it’ll seem more real.” 

She decided to drop that for now, giving him the benefit of the doubt. It was his  _ speciality  _ afterall. Lena looked back at the passport, “Lucy Davis? Why’d you give me an old lady name?” She pouted. 

“I didn’t choose anything. It’s randomly generated,” He huffed a laugh, “You can go upstairs and tell Gabe you guys can go now, though. I’ve got what I need to get to work. It was nice to meet you though,  _ Lucy. _ ” 

Lena rolled her eyes as she headed for the stairs and found Gabriel upstairs.

* * *

 

An hour and three bags of blood later, the two of them piled into the truck and began making their way back to Kentucky. It hadn’t lasted very long and they didn’t go anywhere besides Lúcio’s home but it had been nice to go somewhere new. 

“I think we can get back to the ranch before the sun rises if we’re lucky,” Gabriel said, shifting in his seat, “We weren’t gone long but I don’t like sleeping in other people’s beds.” 

Lena raised an eyebrow and looked at him, “From what I’ve been told, you’re almost never home, love.” 

He grumbled something under his breath and rolled his eyes, “I move around a bit, yeah, but I have more than one place to stay that is  _ mine _ .” 

“Why?” She asked, resting her elbow on the car door and her chin in her palm, “You’re like an emo, sulky dad. Why do you always leave but end up coming back?” 

“It’s… Complicated.” Gabriel ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh.

“What’s complicated?” Lena wasn’t going to let this go. She needed every bit of entertainment she could get.

“Jack is complicated.” He grunted, keeping his eyes focused on the road. 

“The dead guy? What’s he got to do with it?” She asked, grinning as she noticed he seemed to be backed into a corner. 

He sighed again, “First, he’s not ‘the dead guy’. We’re both dead as well. Second, why are you asking questions like a three year old?” 

“Why aren’t you answering my questions? Got something to hide?” Lena teased. 

“You’re worse than Ana, I swear,” Gabriel gave her a sidelong glance and visibly relaxed, “We used to date, did for a long time since we met about five years ago. Obviously, we’re not together anymore.” 

“What happened?” Lena frowned. This wasn’t quite what she’d been expected when she’d teased him. 

“For a while after we met, his condition as a zombie was pretty stable. He didn’t… Decay very much until about a year ago where it started deteriorating fast,” Gabriel chewed his lip and gripped the steering wheel tighter, “I guess I panicked a bit. Started moving around and only returning whenever Ana needs my help. We don’t talk much now and I guess that’s my fault, really.” 

There was a silence between them as Lena processed what he’d said, “So you left ‘cause you’re afraid he’s going to die soon, yeah?”

“That’s one way to put it.” He mumbled.

“Get over it,” Lena stared at him, waiting for Gabriel to give her eye contact, “You’re a Vampire. Undead and immortal and all that business. He’s undead too but a different kind. You’re going to outlive  _ everyone _ . Jack and anyone else you meet, so suck it up and make the most of whatever time you have left with him.”

“You’re right,” Gabriel looked back to the road, “Watch out, you’re going to get a reputation for being the queen of romantic advice.”

She snorted a laugh, “Too late for that.”


	12. Lena Finds Some Courage

Lena and Gabriel arrived back at the ranch just as everyone else was beginning to get up for breakfast. She sighed with relief as the engine was turned off and she had a chance to climb out of the car for the first time since they left Ohio. It seemed even Vampires got cramped and tired muscles. 

Fareeha was waiting with a smile on the front porch when Lena made her way up the front lawn and up the stairs. Lena slung her bag straps over her shoulder and smiled at her, wondering whether she was looking for her specifically or something else. Gabriel walked inside, brushing past the both of them with a grunt in greeting to Fareeha.

“You alright, love?” Lena asked, putting her hands in her pockets. 

“I’m fine,” She deflected, “How was the trip?” 

“It was good. I have the name of an old lady now though,” She answered, eyeing the way that Fareeha was standing hunched over with both her hands in her pockets, “Something wrong?” 

“Nothing  _ wrong _ … Different, perhaps.” Fareeha gave her a shy smile with a blush creeping along her cheeks. 

Lena couldn’t stop the grin growing on her lips, “So you talked to Sombra and Satya then?” She punched Fareeha’s shoulder, “I assume by way your face is changing colour you got the answer you were looking for?” 

“Something along those lines, yeah,” She folded her arms against her chest, “I’m meant to be having a date with the two of them later tonight.” 

“Oh? I thought Ana said we couldn’t leave the ranch.” Her brow drew together in confusion, watching Fareeha closely. 

“She did. We won’t be going anywhere. The date is going to be happening in their room upstairs,” Fareeha said, gesturing towards the house with a finger, “Besides, Satya doesn’t like the idea of leaving her collection unattended if Sombra isn’t there to watch over it… I was wondering if you’d be able to help me pick something out to wear?” 

Lena smirked, “I don’t know if you’ll be needing much to wear if you’re gunna be hanging around in their room all night.” 

Fareeha rolled her eyes and gave Lena a quick shove, causing her to stumble a few steps back, “Seriously though, would you be able to help me out later?”

“I’ve managed to trap myself into helping everyone with their love lives, haven’t I?” Lena pinched her nose, letting out a dramatic sigh, “Sure, love. I’ll come to your room when I’ve had a chance to sleep a little at least.”

* * *

Lena woke up that evening to someone shaking her as she slept. She peered one eye open and looked up at the person who’d woken her, finding Jamison looming over her. He let go of Lena’s shoulder and gave her a toothy grin as she rubbed at her eyes, lifting her head off the pillow. 

“What do you need, Jamie?” She asked, her words slurring. 

“I came to ask about Fareeha. You spoken to her yet?” Jamison asked as he knelt down beside the bed, folding his arms on top of the mattress and resting his chin on the back of his hands. 

“Oh,” Lena sat up, wondering to have a conversation like that first thing after waking up, “Right. Yeah, I’ve spoken to her and was gunna talk to you tonight, actually.” 

His grin grew wider, “What’d she say then?” Jamison was practically bouncing as he waited for Lena’s answer. 

“Unfortunately she doesn’t feel the same way about you, love,” Lena reached out and patted him on the head, internally cringing at the greasy feeling left on her fingers, “It wouldn’t work.” 

“Wouldn’t work?” His head tilted to the side, “Whaddya mean?” 

“She’s a lesbian. Probably not quite a good fit for you.” She said, sitting up in bed. Lena was hoping that this information might soften the blow in a way, making sure Jamison knew there was no chance whatsoever with Fareeha. 

“Oh,” His face sunk, “What do I bloody well do now?” Jamison rested his head on her mattress. She was going to have to wash that later. 

“Move on, I guess. Perhaps find someone who’s not a lesbian to date.” Lena shrugged her shoulders and pushed herself off the mattress. 

“But she was different!” He threw both arms into the air, “I’ve never seen a woman completely inhale a entire rabbit in one go like that!” 

She rolled her eyes and smiled at him, “You’re not interested in  _ her _ , you’re interested in what she can do. There are other cryptids who can do that and you should find yourself one that you genuinely like. Maybe you should head back to where you came from someday and see what happens.” 

Jamison stared at her for a few moments as if processing what she’d told him before perking up, “You’re right!” He gripped his chin, stroking along his jawline with one long finger, “I’ll go talk to Roadie.” 

Lena watched as he dashed over to the hatch, slipping out of the attic and heading down the ladder. She laughed lightly. For all the romantic advice she’d given in the last day, she  _ still _ hadn’t spoken to Amélie more than once.

* * *

 

When Lena was done helping Fareeha choose what to wear for her date with Sombra and Satya, she decided to make her way to Amélie’s room with her American Sign Language book in hand. It was difficult because there was only the one copy of it but she took pictures of it with her phone for later. Assuming that Amélie was receptive at all to the idea. 

She stood outside her door, book under one arm as she raised the other to knock. Lena waited a few moments when she heard no movement from inside before knocking again. It seemed that not much had changed with Amélie since the last time she’d tried talking to her. 

“It’s Lena,” She called out, trying to make sure Amélie heard her through the door, “I’ve got something for you.” 

Lena waited another few moments, only to be met with more silence. She cleared her throat and decided to try again, “Look, I know I probably made you uncomfortable last time and I’m sorry for that but I’ve brought you something to make it up to you,” Lena licked her lips before adding, “You don’t have to speak to me to accept it.” 

She was about to try speaking again when she heard Amélie taking steps inside her room, coming to the door and opening it. The outfit she was wearing wasn’t the exact same as the last time but it was close enough. All black, all leather, and covering up pretty much every part of her body, barring her face. Lena couldn’t believe how gorgeous she still was with all that. 

Her brain blanked the moment she realised she was standing right in front of Amélie. It took the raise of a perfectly manicured eyebrow to get her talking, “R-Right,” She stammered out, remembering the book under her arm, “I got you this. Well, us, I guess. Found it in the department store in Bardstown.” Lena pulled the book out and held it out to her. 

She watched as Amélie took it in her hand and examined it. For the first few seconds, there seemed to be almost no emotion that crossed her face until the corner of her mouth twitched up into a smile. Lena thought that her heart was going to come spilling up through her throat at that. 

“Thank you, cherie.” Amélie murmured, taking hold of Lena’s chin and pulling her in to plant a kiss on her cheek. 

Lena’s mind went blank for the second time in just a few minutes. She’d never met a woman who was able to render her so stupid before. Her luck back in London had been much better but she didn’t think it was anything to do with Amélie being a Siren. Amélie was just  _ so _ her type that she wasn’t sure what to do, afraid of screwing things up. 

A cough to Lena’s left broke the eye contact she was holding with Amélie. It was Ana standing just a few metres away, an eyebrow raised after having probably seen what had happened between the two of them. Lena felt guilty and prepared herself for some kind of telling off after their previous discussion about Amélie. 

“You need to come downstairs to the dining room,” Ana said, a hard frown forming on her lips, “The both of you, please.” 

“Why? What’s wrong?” Lena asked, turning to face Ana completely now. 

“Jesse’s gone missing.”


	13. Time to Come Up With a Plan

Lena and Amélie both piled with the others into the dining room, all of them taking their seats around the table much like the last time Ana had called them in here. The mood was very different this time, however. Almost everyone except for Sombra sat in dead silence as Ana claimed her seat at the head of the table. 

“As you all know, I’ve asked you to come down here because Jesse was kidnapped last night. I began looking for him first thing this morning when I realised he hadn’t come home.” Ana rested her arms on top of the table, bringing her hands together. 

“It might be…  _ Rude _ of me to say it but, Jesse has disappeared for multiple days at a time in the past,” Gabriel leaned in to be able to look at Ana past the others, “You sure he’s not on one of his usual escapades?”  

“I’m sure, Gabe. I know with his being an incubus that he usually leaves the ranch to get what he  _ needs _ elsewhere but with the recent cryptid disappearances, I made him promise to let me know if he wasn’t returning,” Ana paused as she noticed the pointed looks from those around the table, “I know it sounds childish, but it wasn’t worth the risk of not knowing where he was if something happened. He didn’t contact me last night so I went to his usual spots and twisted their arms until I got security footage. Sombra?” 

Sombra stood up from the other end of the table and made her way over, bringing the laptop she’d been tapping away at in the corner and placing it on the table, turned away from herself and Ana. She pressed the spacebar, starting some security footage that had been ready to play.

In the footage playing on the screen, Lena could recognise Jesse with his big cowboy hat as he made his way out of the one bar in the township nearby. He was leaving alone and the video followed his journey from multiple cameras as he walked to the truck he must have borrowed from Ana. 

When Jesse got about twenty metres from the truck, he stopped to try fish what Lena assumed to be his car keys out of his front pocket. It looked like it must have been stuck and that was what caused him to stop. A tall figure came up from behind him with vibrant red hair and what looked to be a syringe in hand. Lena squinted and shifted closer to get a better look as the needle went into Jesse’s neck and a long, slender hand covered his mouth. 

Jesse’s body hit the ground and another large figure joined the first one. It was a dark skinned, heavily muscular man and it seemed to match the description that Ana had mentioned when they had their last talk. Ana appeared to have been right when she voiced her concern and told them to be careful. 

The rest of the footage was made up of the man picking up Jesse and slinging him over his shoulder with ease, heading off camera. Sombra stopped the video with another press of the spacebar and picked up the laptop, closing it. Lena and the others watched silently as Sombra made her way back to her seat. 

“Even with Sombra’s help, I wasn’t able to discover any footage just yet of whatever vehicle they used to remove Jesse from the township,” She cleared her throat, shifting in her seat, “We’re assuming they’d have to be using some sort of van or truck to get around so Sombra will be continuing the search through traffic and other security cameras in the surrounding counties to see if we can find them and figure out where they’re going.” 

“What would we even do if we track them down?” Lena blurted out, nails gripping the edge of the table, “Is there some sort of… I don’t know, cryptid police we can call?” 

For the first time since the impromptu meeting began, a small smile played on Ana’s lips, “There isn’t a cryptid police of any kind, unfortunately. We police our own communities, at least for now.” 

Lena felt her face warm from embarrassment, “Right, sorry.” She mumbled, hiding her face behind her hand. 

“The plan is to wait while Sombra collects more information for us to use,” Ana pushed her sleeves up to her elbows, “Once we know where they’re going or at least, where they’ve been, we can follow them and try get Jesse back.” 

“Who do you think you’ll send after them?” Angela asked, leaning to look past Aleks sitting next to her. 

“We won’t know until we get some more information,” Ana stood up from her seat, tapping the table top with her fingertip, “No one leave the ranch while we’re still figuring all of this out. We have things to plan.”

* * *

 

Lena took a seat on the steps of the back porch, waiting for Fareeha to get undressed and change into her were form for them to play some fetch. They were trying to pass the time while they waited for more information from Sombra. She had seen how anxious Fareeha was by the way she’d been pacing after the impromptu meeting and suggested throwing a ball around to blow off some steam. 

She hadn’t been living on the ranch long, but Lena had seen enough to know that Fareeha had been close with Jesse. As far as she knew, Jesse had been living on the ranch almost as long as Fareeha and Ana had been here. Lena wanted to do whatever she could to help Fareeha get her mind off it. 

Fareeha sat down in front of her in her were form, waiting for Lena to toss the tennis ball in her hand. She lifted her hand in the air, holding the ball above Fareeha’s head and grinning as her eyes followed it. Lena waited a few more seconds until she heard her whine before tossing it as hard as she could across the field. 

Lena watched as Fareeha sprinted away, chasing the ball. A few seconds later, Lena jumped slightly as Amélie sat down next to her, giving her a fright. She put a hand to her chest, letting a slow breath out as her heart calmed down. 

“Jesus.” Lena mumbled, pivoting on the spot to look at Amélie and seeing that in her hands she had the sign language book that she’d bought. 

Amélie pursed her lips and opened up the book, flicking through it for a while before bringing a closed fist to her chest and moving it in a clockwise circle. It took a moment but Lena recognised it from the few hours she’d spent reading it. “Sorry.” 

She gave a wide smile, “I don’t know if I remember enough from the book to say anything back, but, you like it then?” 

Amélie reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small notepad and pen. She wrote something out on the page and passed it to Lena. It didn’t surprise Lena at all to find out Amélie’s handwriting happened to be cursive perfection. This woman wasn’t fair. 

“Perhaps we can practice using sign language when we leave the ranch. We should have plenty of free time while we are traveling.” The note read. 

“Leave the ranch? Lena asked, raising an eyebrow, “How do you know that Ana will ask the two of us to go?” 

Amélie gestured with the curl of her fingers that she wanted the notepad back. Lena handed it over and watched as she took her time writing down what she wanted to say. It appeared to be a much longer note than the last one. 

“I’m a Siren, as you know. Ana will ask for me to join her because I have the ability to distract groups of people and that is useful in case of anything unexpected happening while we are out there. Especially when we don’t know what kind of facility they would be using to keep Jesse hostage. Ana will also ask you because she will ask Gabriel and two Vampires are more useful than one.” 

Lena read the note and nodded, “Right, I guess that makes a lot of sense.” 

Their conversation was interrupted by Fareeha returning with the tennis ball in her mouth, sitting down in front of the two of them. She was waiting for one of them to take it and throw it for her again. 

“See you another time, cherie.” Amélie murmured, speaking aloud as she reached forward and took the notepad from Lena’s hand. She stood up and pressed a kiss to Lena’s temple before heading back inside. 

Lena could feel her face turning a dark red as Fareeha stared at her, head tilting to the side with the ball still in her mouth. 

She rolled her eyes and took the ball from her mouth, “Don’t give me that look.”

* * *

 

After a few hours of tossing a ball around for Fareeha to chase, the two of them were exhausted. Fareeha was lying on the ground in her were form, taking a short nap while Lena massaged the muscles in her arm. Both of them perked up when the door to the kitchen opened followed by the sound of footsteps on the back porch. 

Ana stood right next to where Lena was sitting, arms folded against her chest, “Can you two join us back inside in the dining room again? We’ve gotten some more information.” 

She didn’t wait for Lena or Fareeha to answer, heading back inside the house immediately. Lena looked over to Fareeha, catching the end of her changing back to her human self as she grabbed the pile of clothes she’d left on the porch. She stood up from where she’d been sitting on the steps and walked through the kitchen into the dining room. 

When Lena entered the dining room, Sombra replaced Ana by sitting at the head of the table with a laptop in front of her. Fareeha wasn’t too far behind her, now fully dressed. She opted to stand next to her mother while Lena took a seat next to Genji, putting a hand on his shoulder. He was looking fairly distraught, as you’d expect for someone who’s boyfriend has been kidnapped. She’d have to talk to him after this. 

“I found them,” Sombra announced, turning the laptop around to face everyone. On the screen was a picture taken security footage taken at a petrol station. It had a woman leaning out of the passenger seat of the car with vibrant red hair who looked to be talking to the large man Lena recognised from the video of Jesse being taken as he filled up the car, “I managed to track these two through Bowling Green and then I found them again in Tennessee, in Hendersonville. Haven’t found them again yet, but they seem to be heading south.” 

“How did you find them?” Genji asked, perking up at the idea that they had some semblance of an idea where Jesse is. 

“Did a search through traffic cameras leaving the area in a fifty mile radiu of Lebanon and found a grey van,” Sombra shrugged, “It was all I had until I followed them to the gas station in Bowling Green where I could see them out of the van. I have their plates now so they’re going to be much easier to track.”

“So what’s the plan?” Genji turned in his seat to look at Ana who stood behind him. 

“My current thoughts…” Ana trailed off, gripping her chin as she thought for a moment, “I’ll split us up into two groups. One who will follow them with our bigger van and another that will there instead.” 

“Who gets to fly?” Sombra asked, closing her laptop, “I don’t want to be stuck in that van again.” 

“Well, those who can  _ actually _ make it through security are welcome to go by plane. So unless you can produce yourself a new identity by tomorrow, you’ll be going in the van, Sombra.”

“Carajo!” Sombra slammed her fist on the table. 

Ana continued talking, ignoring her outburst, “I’ll be talking with Gabriel but I’m currently planning for it to be Fareeha, Amélie, Lena and myself will fly while Gabriel, Mako, Jamison, Sombra, and Genji will follow in the van.” 

There was a collective groan from Sombra, Genji and Gabriel at the idea of all five of them being stuck in a van together for who knows how long. No one argued though, even if they weren’t happy. Even Lena knew from her short time at the ranch that you didn’t argue with Ana. 

“Everyone that I named, meet me back in here at six am,” Ana paused to check her watch, “So in seven hours, I’ll go over any changes and what we need and we’ll set off. Go get some rest, you’re going to need it.” 


	14. Airport Hustle

After their meeting, Lena scrambled her way out of the dining room and tried her best to follow Genji as he walked through the house, heading up the stairs. She knew she had to at least try talk to him before they all rushed off to chase after Jesse and his kidnappers. Lena couldn’t imagine this would be easy for anyone on the ranch, let alone Genji.

She managed to catch up to him just before he made his way into room, grabbing his shoulder gently. Lena gave him a warm smile as he turned to face her with a raised eyebrow.

“How’re you doing, love?” Lena asked, running a hand through her hair. She caught the slight fall of Genji’s face and winced. “Probably a bit of a stupid question, yeah? Can’t imagine you’re doing too well.”

Genji ran a palm down his face, letting out a slow breath before answering her question, “It’s hard. We fought shortly before he was taken… I assume that’s why he was out drinking the other night.” He folded his arms against his chest and shrugged.

“What’d you fight about?” She frowned. Lena had an idea in mind.

“The usual. He said he wasn’t going to get what he needed from me and that there was no point since he lives forever and everything.” Genji waved a hand in the air.

“Perhaps he’s right?” Lena offered, “Maybe it won’t work because he won’t put in the time for it. You sure he’s worth it, love?”

He let out a sigh, “Unfortunately for me, I’m very sure.”

“Lemme kick his arse before we bring him back here.” She grinned up at him.

Genji let out a short laugh and pinched the bridge of his nose, “You’ve got to wait your turn. I’m going first.”

* * *

 

Lena managed to force a two hour nap in before the six am the next day. It was hard as it felt a lot like trying to go to bed way too early. She pushed herself out of bed and grabbed the small bag she’d packed earlier that morning. Inside was enough clothes for three days, all of them ‘normal’ as per Ana and Gabriel’s insistence.

She tucked her new passport and driver’s licence into the front pocket of the bag before picking it up to sling it over her shoulder. Lena climbed down the ladder and pulled the hatch closed behind her, making her way down to the dining room as instructed. It appeared she was the last one to make it down, with everyone else in the room already and divided into their two teams.

Ana turned to face her when she heard her walk in, “I assume you have your passport?”

“Sure do, love.” Lena said, doing her best to give a smile to show she was more awake than she actually was.

“Good. I have the four of us booked on a flight that leaves for Birmingham in a couple of hours,” She paused, seeing Lena and the other’s confused looks before clarifying, “Sombra managed to track them through the night and has last seen them in Huntsville so we’re hoping to cut them off while the others follow up from behind.”

“We should get going then. We can’t afford to miss our flight.” Fareeha said, hands resting on her hips. Lena could see that she was clearly eager and anxious to get going, afraid they could lose Jesse.

Ana nodded, pulling out a set of keys from her jacket pocket and tossing it to Gabriel. She then turned on her heel and headed out the door, walking through the kitchen and into the hallway. Lena adjusted the straps of her bag and followed Ana as quickly as she could manage. The three of them waited as Ana got a hatchback out of the garage and readied it for them to go.

It took them an hour to get to the airport and another hour and a half to get through security at the airport. Lena had spent the entire trip through security riddled with anxiety, fearing the possibility that the new identity that Lucio had given her wouldn’t hold up under scrutiny. She’d spent the entire car ride to the airport trying to memorise the information on her passport and driver’s licence, just in case.

Once they made it through without any hiccups, much to Lena’s relief, they spent what seemed like forever waiting in front of their gate. They all sat down on a row of seats with Lena squished between Ana and Amélie. Lena did her best to try keep her attention off of Amélie, not wanting to be caught staring now that she had so much time to look. She’d never seen her outside of her room for more than twenty minutes at a time before now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Amélie looked disinterested, as if she really didn’t want to be here. Lena couldn’t tell whether it was just how her face normally was or whether she really didn’t care for helping find Jesse. She hoped it was the former and not the latter, Amélie seemed nice enough in their brief interactions.

“Have you got something to say to me, cherie?” Amélie asked, staring right at Lena now. There was a playful smirk on her lips.

Lena felt her face warm up, she hadn’t been as discrete as she’d thought she’d been, “Uhhh… No, not really,” She chewed her lip as she thought of something to say to try save some face, “You been on many planes before?”

Amélie let out a surprisingly loud, throaty laugh, “I am not from America. So yes, I have been on a few planes before.”

She could feel the blush spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, “Sorry, love. That was a bit of a dumb question.”

“Oui. It was,” Amélie seemed to relax more now that they were talking, “You are lucky you are cute enough to make up for your lack of charisma, cherie.”

Before Lena could get too excited about the compliment she was just given, the lead flight attendant spoke over the mic system, announcing that boarding was beginning. She tried to think of something to say to Amélie as people started lining up in front of the gate but the moment passed.

When Ana stood up, the three of them quickly followed with their carry on luggage. They’d been lucky to get tickets for this flight at all, they could only hope that there hadn’t been any overbooking of seats. Lena had dealt with that particular issue on her way over from London which left her stranded in an airport in New York for over a day.

They were in luck with three of them securing seats next to each other in a row with a fourth seat two rows behind. Ana made her way onto the plane first and took the seat by itself, claiming she wanted some peace and quiet. Lena on the other hand was once again squeezed between two people. She didn’t complain, knowing that she was the smallest of them all by far. She also didn’t mind being elbowed by Amélie enough to protest.

* * *

 

Lena didn’t intend to fall asleep but she supposed that must have been what happened when she was woken up by the plane coming in for landing, being jostled in her seat. She hadn’t realised how tired she was until she’d had that three hour nap. All three of them waited in their seats patiently as the plane pulled into the gate at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport and the other passengers made their way out in single file.

She realised as they made their way off the plane and towards airport security that she was starting to get thirsty. Lena hoped that Ana had a way for her to get a drink while they were away from the ranch. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind until now, she wasn’t as used to the idea of being a Vampire as she thought.

If Lena could still sweat while being undead, she imagined she’d be sweating bullets as she and the others got through security. She wondered how long it would take for her to get used to having a new identity for legal purposes and whether she’d ever get any good at lying with it. It took a while before their checked-in bags came around on the carousel. Lena hadn’t brought much with her but Ana and Amélie had seemed to pack as if they were going away for a long vacation.

The three of them stood awkwardly to the side as Ana signed a rental agreement to get a car for at least a few days. Lena watched Amélie frown when they were handed the keys to a small VW Beetle, it didn’t give them very much leg space. They’d only just made it out onto the road when Ana’s phone began to ring. Fareeha was sitting in the front seat with Ana’s small side bag between her legs and reached down to pull it out of the pocket.

When she saw that it was Sombra calling, she showed the screen to Ana before answering, “Hello?” She started. There was about a minute of silence on Fareeha’s end, listening to Sombra talk before she spoke again, “Fuck.” Fareeha murmured under her breath.

“You’re sure?” She asked, eyes flicking between Ana, Lena and Amélie as she listened, “Right, thanks, Sombra,” Lena watched as Fareeha hung up and put the phone back in the bag. She turned around to face the rest of them, “So, Sombra seems to have found out more about the kidnappers. One of them is Dr O’Deorian and the other is a guy who’s name I can’t pronounce or remember. She said that they’re both working for the Department of Defence, or at least, they’re being funded by them and probably using one of their bases as part of their operations.”

“Kos Omak,” Ana murmured, “That means that negotiations with the government haven’t been going as well as we thought.”

“Negotiations?” Lena asked, chiming in to find out what they both seemed to be so upset about. As far as Lena knew, everyone was out to get cryptids.

“We have a council that does its best to try regulate things and get protections for cryptids in America. We’d thought things had been going quite well based on the reports being sent around by the council but if these two _really_ are being funded by the government, things have been going a lot worse than believed.” Ana explained, her grip on the steering wheel tightened as she spoke.

“Things are real fucked up for cryptids, huh?” Lena mumbled, resting her chin in palm.

Fareeha snorted a disdainful laugh, “That’s one way to put it.”


	15. Motels and Flat Tires

Sombra grunted in frustration as she listened to Gabriel bickering with Jamison and Roadhog outside the van. They’d just crossed the border from Tennessee into Mississippi when one of their rear tires had gone flat. Jamison had gotten out of the back of the van first, insisting that he knew what he was doing and that he’d have them back on the road in ‘ten seconds flat’. 

When he’d struggled with what he was doing, Roadhog had climbed out as well to help him. Five minutes later, Roadhog made his way to the driver’s side door of the van and grunted with the nod of his head to ask for Gabriel’s help. Sombra wasn’t sure how or why it would take three people to change a flat tire to the spare, but she wasn’t particularly interested in helping. She’d rather continue to play on her Switch.  

“Gabriel! If you guys don’t know how to change a goddamn tire, just call roadside assistance. It’ll be faster than you idiots fighting on the side of the road.” Sombra called out, eyes not leaving her game. 

“Shut it, Sombra. We can manage.” Gabriel grumbled back before dropping a tool on the concrete causing an annoying clang of metal. 

“I’m calling for help before you morons break something.” She shifted in her seat, pulling her phone out of her pocket and making the call. 

Sombra was pleasantly surprised by the response time. It only took forty minutes for their roadside assistance to show up despite them being fairly far away from any town. She was grateful for it, she didn’t think she could listen to Gabriel and Jamison fighting for much longer. It was pathetic really. 

“Jamie, get in the van,” Sombra called out, opening her door and dropping to the ground from inside the vehicle, “You’re too weird looking for this guy.” 

Jamison grumbled and pouted before climbing into the van and wrapping one of the blankets inside around his shoulders. They all knew that Sombra was right, he didn’t quite look human enough to not raise any questions. Best case scenario, the guy would have thought Jamison was just sickly and deformed. 

The guy climbed out of his own truck with a wide grin. On the right side of his chest was a patch with his name in cursive writing, ‘Ryan’. Sombra stepped around Gabriel and extended her hand to him for a handshake. 

“Thanks for coming so fast. Need some help before these idiots broke something.” Sombra put her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrow as she gave Gabriel a sidelong glance. 

“No problem!” Ryan said, still grinning. Sombra never really liked the intense friendly types, “Just a regular flat tire then?” He asked as he knelt down in front of the flat. 

“Yep. That’s all.” She answered, running her hand through her hair. 

“I’ll be done real quick then.” Ryan announced before getting to work. 

He hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he’d be quick. Ryan managed to change the tire without any struggle and picked up the flat, bringing it around to the back of his own truck. He returned with a small eftpos machine in hand and a clipboard. 

“I’ll take care of that tire for you,” He said as he entered some numbers into the eftpos machine, “So here’s what it’ll cost. That covers the call out fee plus the disposal of the tire and everything.” 

Sombra pulled out her card and paid for it with a small smile, “Thank you very much, amigo.” 

Ryan made her sign a form on the clipboard before he gave her a quick salute and made his way back to his own truck, climbing in and driving down the highway. Sombra looked at Gabriel with a smug smirk. 

“I think I know what I’m getting you for your birthday this year, Gabe.” 

“And what’s that?” Gabriel asked as he made his way around to the back of the van, putting away the tools they’d tried using. 

“I’m going to pay for some car maintenance classes.” 

He rolled his eyes and climbed into the driver’s seat of the van, “Very funny, Sombra.” 

“Si, _ I _ thought so.”

* * *

 

Lena felt a wave of relief when they arrived at a motel in Birmingham that Ana had booked before their flight. They waited patiently in the lobby as the attendant sorted out their booking and organised their keys. She was certainly ready for a real chance to lie down and sleep, her back was aching and they hadn’t even traveled all that far. Lena felt a bit ripped off by the being undead thing if she still had this problem. 

Her relief vanished when Ana turned around with two keys in hand, “Right, I have a room for Fareeha and I then I have a second room for you and Amélie.” Ana said, passing the roomkey to Lena with a knowing smirk on her lips. 

Amélie didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed by the fact that they’d be sharing a room for at least tonight, possibly longer depending on Sombra’s information. Fareeha, on the other hand, seemed to find the idea very amusing. She didn’t think it was possible to look more smug than Ana did when she handed over the keys but Fareeha was managing it. 

Lena rolled her eyes and tried her best to look as disinterested as Amélie as she grabbed her bag and began walking around the motel to find their room. Amélie followed just a few paces behind her and giving Lena space, which she was thankful for. They eventually found their room across the lot from the lobby and Lena unlocked the door for them, heading inside. 

She felt an intense blush spreading across her cheeks as she realised the room only had one queen sized bed in it. They’d either have to share a bed or one of them would have to sleep on the floor. Lena  _ really  _ didn’t want to sleep on the floor, not with how much she wanted to finally get some rest but she also  _ really _ didn’t want to ask Amélie to, either. 

“It seems we are…” Amélie paused in thought, bringing her finger to her lips, “Bed buddies?” She asked, uncertain of the term. 

Lena’s anxiety dissipated as she laughed, “I think you mean bunkmates but bed buddies works too, I suppose.” She said, dropping her bag on the ground to the right of the bed, “It’s alright though, I can sleep on the floor here if you don’t want to share.” 

“Who said I didn’t want to share?” Amélie said almost playfully. Lena felt a different kind of tension in her body when she heard that tone. 

“I guess no one did.” Lena murmured back, turning to look at Amélie as she dropped her bag on the other side of the bed. 

There was a brief pause between them before Amélie spoke, “I assume you want to sleep. It is still in the middle of the day.” She said, changing the subject as she went to the window and pulled the blinds closed. 

“That’d be amazing, actually. Thanks, love.” 

Amélie shrugged with a small smile, “I will just read while I wait.” She walked back to her bag and pulled a small novel out of the side pocket and headed to the desk in the corner, taking a seat. 

Lena wanted to ask what she was going to be waiting for but lost her nerve, instead grabbing the set of pyjamas she packed from her bag and got changed. She was grateful that Amélie’s back was turned, she wasn’t certain her brain would survive Amélie seeing her get undressed.

“Night.” She murmured as she crawled into bed. Lena was surprised by how talkative Amélie had been today compared to her usual self and decided she’d talk to her about it later, after a nap.

“Goodnight, chérie.”

* * *

 

When Lena woke up later that day, Amélie was still sitting at the small desk with the book from before in hand. She’d read the majority of it in the time that Lena had been asleep which made her wonder exactly how long she’d been out. Lena sat up and swivelled on the edge of the mattress to put her feet on the floor, rubbing at her eyes. 

“Morning, love.” She mumbled, lips and throat dry. Lena needed something to drink. 

“ _ Afternoon _ .” Amélie corrected, turning the chair to face Lena with a small smirk. She paused for a moment before raising her hand to her chest and then her face, making a few gestures with her fingers that Lena didn’t quite recognise barring one. Amélie brought her hand from her forehead to head chin which she knew was for sleep.

“You asking me if I slept well or something?” Lena tilted her head, scratching at her cheek. 

Amélie gave a small shrug, “I was trying that, yes.”

She smiled back, swinging her legs back and forth under the bed, “You seem to be talking a lot more now though. You feeling more comfortable now or do you still wanna try using the sign language stuff?” 

“I am not sure,” Amélie pursed her lips, putting a piece of paper between the pages of her book to mark her place before putting it aside, “I did not speak because I was afraid… I am much less afraid now.” 

“Afraid of what exactly, love?” Lena asked, already having a fair idea of what the answer was. She wanted to hear it from Amélie herself even if Ana had already given her a brief overview. 

She didn’t speak for a little while, resting her hands in her lap and playing with her fingers as she seemed to be thinking about how to talk about, “I was in a relationship with a human man named Gerard. We had been together for about four years and had even gotten engaged when he began to get obsessive and rough. Very controlling,” Amélie folded her arms against her chest and relaxed into her seat, letting out a long sigh, “It was something I could manage, it would come and go with time. He became… much more aggressive one night and it ended with me using his own gun on him,” She paused again, chewing her lip. Amélie was getting much more emotional than Lena had ever seen, “I did not mean to kill him but I had no experience with weapons like that.” 

Lena frowned and leaned forward, reaching out to put her hand on Amélie’s elbow, “You were just protecting yourself, love. No reason you should blame yourself for that.” 

“I do not blame myself for that, I blame myself for letting it get to that point,” She reached up and put her gloved hand on top of Lena’s, “You see, I did not know I was a Siren. I was abandoned as an infant and adopted by human parents who, of course, did not know what I was. Siren children are not physically different from human children. Gerard was a wonderful man who lost his sanity because I was not aware of myself or how to control it.” Amélie rubbed her thumb along the back of Lena’s hand. 

She wanted to keep telling Amélie that Gerard’s death could never be her fault, not when she didn’t even know what she was but Lena knew she needed comfort more than that now, “I’m sorry, love. How’d you end up finding out what you are?” 

“Thank you, chérie,” Amélie sniffed, “Ana found me, much like everyone else living on the ranch. She had caught wind of me through newspaper articles that reported on his death and came visited me in France to see if her suspicions were right. Gabriel’s Jackal friend secured me a visa and I was allowed to come live with everyone else.” 

Lena chewed her lip, thinking for a moment before going right in for a tight embrace. She felt Amélie stiffen in her arms but she persisted until she could feel her relax, “No matter what happened with Gerard, you can only live in fear for so long, love. Maybe it’s time for you to start looking to the future rather than hiding away, yeah?” 

Amélie brought her arms around Lena’s small body to return the embrace, “I suppose you might be right.”   

“How about we go on a walk then? Brave the outside world and all that.” Lena suggested with a smile, pulling back from Amélie just enough to make eye contact.

Amélie couldn’t help but begin to smile back, “That sounds like a nice idea.”

* * *

 

The pair headed out after Lena grabbed her sunglasses and put on some real clothes, spending a good hour walking around the area. Lena wasn’t too focused on where they were going or their surroundings, finding a lot more interest in talking to Amélie about her life. She was trying her best to soak up every bit of information Amélie was willing to give her. 

She learned that Amélie had been adopted and raised in Annecy, France but wasn’t sure whether that was where she’d actually been born. Amélie had been a ballet dancer most of her life right up until what happened with Gerard which had stopped her from returning to the stage even if she wanted to. She was also a little older than Lena expected, thirty-three, and she couldn’t resist telling Amélie that she certainly didn’t look thirty. 

Amélie surprised her when they were waiting for a chance to cross the road by taking her hand, intertwining their fingers. It was a strange feeling with Amélie wearing leather gloves still but Lena still enjoyed every moment, giving her hand a squeeze. They eventually slowly made their way back to the motel and found Fareeha waiting outside the door to their room. 

As they got closer, Fareeha raised an eyebrow and smirked at the way that Amélie and Lena were holding hands. Lena could tell Amélie was feeling nervous by the way her arms seemed to tense and her hand squeezed around her own. She was almost waiting for Amélie to take her hand back but was glad when she didn’t. 

“You two having fun?” Fareeha asked, pushing away from the wall and crossing her arm against her chest. 

“We were, then you showed up,” Lena teased back with a grin, “What’re you doing hanging around?”

“As much as I’d like to be here to tease you both, I actually have something to talk to you guys about.” 

Amélie tilted her head to the side, taking on a more serious tone, “What is it?” 

“We’re getting on another flight tomorrow morning. My mother booked it for us just now so we can catch up to the people who kidnapped Jesse. Sombra has tracked them heading into Texas and we’re flying into Dallas to try see if we can cut them off, again.” Fareeha said, brushing her hair behind her ear. 

“Is it another super early flight?” Lena asked, exasperated. If they had many more of these early starts, she had a feeling she was going to be very exhausted soon. 

Fareeha huffed a laugh, “Yes, unfortunately for you, we’re leaving at seven.” 

Lena let out a dramatic sigh, “Tell Ana that I want something to drink before we go, though, if she can get that sorted.” 

“Sure,” Fareeha said, taking a few steps to head back to her own room, “You two have fun,” She added with a teasing smile, “Remember to use protection.” 

Amélie let out a quiet chuckle as Lena turned a dark crimson. She let go of her hand long enough to fish the keys to their room out of her pocket, using the opportunity given by opening the door to hide her face from Amélie. Lena made her way inside and held the door open for her to follow her in. 

“I am quite tired after today, chérie.” Amélie announced as she walked to her bag and knelt down, sorting through to get a set of pyjamas out. 

Lena watched as she placed her pyjamas on the bed as she removed her gloves, boots and jacket, resting them on the chair nearby. When Amélie began to start taking off the rest of her clothes, Lena was barely able to contain a squeak as she covered her face and turned around to keep herself from looking. She felt herself blush even more when she heard Amélie chuckle at her reaction. 

“I do not care what you see, Lena.” Amélie reassured as she changed into her pyjamas. 

“Yeah, doesn’t mean I’m just gunna watch though!” She replied, feeling her embarrassment mounting. 

There was silence for a few moments and Lena was about to remove her hands and turn around to see what was going on when she felt Amélie standing right behind her. Her front was pressed up against her back and her bare hands covered Lena’s. Amélie guided her hands from her face and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek. 

Lena turned her face to look at Amélie and she felt herself freeze up at the smirk on her lips. There was then a hand tracing along her jaw before she was pulled into a kiss. She stiffened in Amélie’s arms at first, surprised by what was happening before she finally leaned into it, closing her eyes. 

Their kiss lasted a few moments before Amélie pulled away again, running her fingers up and down the side of Lena’s neck, “Come join me in bed?” 

“Anything for you, love.” 


	16. Welcome to Texas

Lena woke up the next morning with Amélie pressed up against her back and an arm slung lazily around her waist. Amélie had insisted on still wearing her gloves while they shared the bed to prevent too much contact with Lena and she chose not to argue with her. She wanted Amélie to feel as comfortable around her as possible. 

Not long after she’d finally woken up, there was a quick double knock to their door, “Time to get up, guys. Leaving in five minutes.” It was Fareeha. At least she wasn’t trying to be smug or tease them this early in the morning. 

Lena begrudgingly climbed out of bed, lifting the covers off the both of them before walking around to her bag. She pulled out a change of clothes and did her best to quickly get dressed then watched as Amélie did the same. Amélie decided to leave the room first while Lena double checked to make sure they had everything before they headed to the airport. 

Ana fixed her with a smug smirk when her eyes found the small hickey that Amélie had left at the base of her neck the night before but she said nothing. Lena felt herself blush brightly as she adjusted her collar to hide it better, Fareeha would be a lot more insufferable if she saw it. Ana led the three of them to where she’d parked the rental car the previous night. When they’d all climbed into the car, Ana tossed Lena a bag of blood for her to drink as they headed towards the airport.

The anxiety she’d felt yesterday when they left Kentucky wasn’t as present this time. It was still there, just a bit, but Lena was feeling a lot more confident in Lucio’s ability to create fake identities now. They seemed to pass perfectly fine at airports. As they passed through security once again at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth, no one batted an eye at Lena’s identification and before she knew it she was back at the gate, waiting for the boarding. 

The seats were arranged differently this time with Amélie and Lena sitting together towards the front of the plane with both Fareeha and Ana sitting separately further back. Lena was feeling grateful at the chance to sit with Amélie without Fareeha being right there to watch their every move. She had a feeling that when they reunited with the rest of the group, the affections they’d been sharing wouldn’t stay quiet. 

It didn’t take long for Lena to fall asleep again after take off with the way that Amélie was running her fingers through her hair. She appreciated the help she was being given to get to sleep with how little she’d gotten the night before. Lena woke up with her head on Amélie’s shoulder after the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac, jostling the whole aircraft. 

“We in Dallas now?” Lena asked, words slurring from drowsiness. 

“Oui, ma chérie,” Amélie replied, marking her place in her new book before slipping it into her bag resting under the seat in front of her, “Do you know that you snore?” She asked with a small smile.

“I do not!” Lena squeaked, feeling her face warm. She wasn’t too sure why she was so embarrassed by the idea of Amélie hearing her snoring but Lena felt a sudden urge to try throw herself out of the plane. 

Amélie chuckled and reached out to brush some of Lena’s fringe out of her eyes, “It is cute, do not worry.” She said before unbuckling her belt and standing up to reach their bags in the overhead compartment. 

Lena let out a slow breath as she recovered from the combination of being embarrassed and being touched by Amélie before undoing her own belt. She stayed in her seat while she waited for there to be enough room to join Amélie in the aisle and then made her way off the plane. The two of them stood patiently outside the gate as Fareeha and Ana finally got into the airport as well. 

It was mid afternoon by the time they’d gotten through security, rented a new car and drove to their new motel. Lena found out the hard way as they stood outside the small motel lobby that Vampires aren’t immune to heat waves. She fanned herself with her hand, frowning as she felt sweat trickling down her back. 

Lena did her best to conceal her excitement at the idea of sharing another room with Amélie again tonight. The previous night had gone well enough that she was feeling eager for a repeat performance if she could get one. Even if she couldn’t, spending time alone with Amélie was enough, especially now that she was beginning to open up about herself, slowly but surely. 

Ana returned from the motel lobby to the parking lot and passed Lena a key to the room that she and Amélie would be sharing before letting the two of them disappear without saying much at all. Lena waited until they’d walked behind a few cars to discreetly slip her hand into Amélie’s, intertwining their fingers. Their room was on the other side of the lot and she walked quickly, trying to get time alone together faster. She missed the keyhole, scratching the key along the metal front a few times before finally hitting the mark. Lena was so eager her hands were shaking. 

She tossed the key onto the tabletop nearby and turned around, facing Amélie with a wide grin. Amélie smirked back at her and opened her mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door. Lena’s smile faded away as she pulled the door open to see Fareeha standing there with one of the smuggest expressions she’s ever seen on her face. 

“What do you want?” Lena grumbled, slumping against the door frame.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got to go again. Sombra just called my mother and told her we need to make our way to Killeen,” Fareeha said with a shrug, her demeanour becoming more serious as she spoke, “Apparently they’ve been using Fort Hood up there to run whatever operation this is. She even got their IDs from a source as well.” 

Lena let out an exasperated sigh at the idea of having to travel, yet again, but felt some relief in knowing they now had some idea of who they were chasing and where they were hiding, “Who are they?” 

Fareeha reached her hand into her pocket, pulling out of her phone and searching through her messages, “Dr Moira O’Deorian who is the red headed woman from the security tapes and Akande Oka-Okun… Okundimu, I think.” She said, pursing her lips at the pronunciation of the name. 

“Any clue on what they are? You said one of them is one of those Waheel-y things, yeah?” Lena asked, ignoring the quiet chuckle from Amélie behind her. 

“Yeah, Akande Oku- or whatever his name is - is the Waheela. Human form is what we saw on video but he’ll have a much larger bear-wolf hybrid form that can rip a Vampire limb from limb fairly easily,” She explained, putting her phone back in her pocket, “The doctor, she’s a Grindylow as far as Sombra could find. They’re known in mythology for being cryptids who dwell in seas, lakes, rivers, and bogs and have a reputation for snatching and drowning children. We don’t know much about them either, they’re very isolated creatures.” 

Lena nodded along, trying to absorb the information that Fareeha had just given her, “So we’re leaving right now, then?” 

“Yeah, pick up your things and meet us at the car as soon as you can. We’re driving up there.” She answered with a smile, looking almost excited to get going. 

Once Fareeha was gone, Lena closed the door again and turned back around to face Amélie with a pout. She was disappointed that having some time together would be delayed at least for now. Amélie gave her a soft smile and reached out to run her fingers through Lena’s hair, pushing it behind her ear. 

“Try not to be so disappointed, chérie. We will have plenty of time together, later.”

* * *

 

The car ride up to Killeen from Dallas wasn’t too long, only taking just over two hours. Lena was sat in the back with Fareeha who had taken the opportunity to shift into her wolf form with the window wound down. Her disappointment over the interruption earlier faded away at the sight of Fareeha with her head out the side of the car, tongue hanging out of her mouth as she enjoyed the wind. 

They went through the drive thru at a fast food place as they arrived in Killeen to grab everyone something to eat before they arrived at the motel. It was now well past dark and they were all starving after a day of near constant travel. Lena got herself a burger and fries just for the taste once she smelt the food from the restaurant through the window. 

Ana parked the car in the parking lot out front, giving them a chance to eat the food they’d just bought and passed Lena another bag of blood to drink when she was done with her meal. Once everyone was done, Amélie climbed out of the car quickly to throw all their rubbish away before Ana drove them towards their new motel for the night. 

Lena spent the rest of the car ride trying to get bits of food out of the fur around Fareeha’s mouth. She’d made a fairly large mess in her excitement to eat everything they’d bought, even trying to steal some of Lena’s in the process. Not too long later, they pulled into the front of the new motel and Lena frowned. It somehow managed to be a lot less nice and a lot more dingy than the previous two. 

Without Lena realising it, Ana had driven them all out into what seemed like the shittier side of town, “Why’re we here?” She asked instinctively. 

“Unfortunately,” Ana sighed, “The rest of the places were booked, apparently there’s some kind of work convention going on nearby and people have already bought out the decent accommodation. We also only have one room for us to share.” 

“Share?” Lena pouted, “As in all four of us?” 

“No, as in every single one of us when the others arrive.” Ana corrected, pulling into a parking spot in front of the motel lobby. 

“Sounds a bit cramped, love.” 

Ana chuckled quietly, “You’re welcome to sleep out in the car if you would rather that.” She teased as she climbed out of the car and headed into the motel. 

Lena stuck her tongue out at Ana even though she could see her, “Fuck me, that’s going to be a tight fit.” 


	17. Reunited and It Feels So Good

Sombra sighed as the van pulled into a small dusty road, driving into a reserve that she’d found with her phone. They were finally closing in on the border where Arkansas meets Texas when Jamison had spoken up about how Roadhog hadn’t eaten the entire trip. It hadn’t been at the front of Sombra’s mind at all with the search for Jesse’s kidnappers and trying to follow them across the country. 

A sickly feeling built up in her stomach once Jamison reminded them. Ghouls needed to eat living things, preferably as big as you can find them. They had a reputation for eating humans but Roadhog had always been well controlled, sticking to livestock that Ana would bring to the barn for him. Even so, no one wanted to be stuck around a hungry Ghoul.

Sombra had found from searching online that this particular reserve had various larger animals that Roadhog should be able to eat if they were lucky. If not, at the very least, they could probably scrounge up a few smaller ones to tide them over until they met up with Ana when they arrived in Killeen. 

Gabriel pulled the van into a parking space up by the front of the main pathway into the reserve before climbing out and walking to the back of the car, opening up the back doors to let the rest of them out. Roadhog got out first, with the van bouncing slightly as his weight was lifted, followed by Jamison and Genji climbing out of the back. 

Sombra slipped out her side and walked to the back, standing next to Roadhog and trying to hide her anxiety, “So, do you need help catching something to eat or…?” She trailed off, waiting for Roadhog to fill in the gaps. 

Roadhog stared at her, blinking a few times through the eye holes in his mask before looking to Jamison. 

“Yeah, you’ll needa help Roadie,” Jamison said with a shrug and a lazy smile, “Shift into a wolf or something and hunt down what you can.”

Sombra let out a sigh and walked back around to the other side of the van, waiting to make sure that she couldn’t be seen before she removed her clothes. She folded them and placed the pile on the hood of the car before shifting into the form of a wolf. Even though she hadn’t been in the mood to, Jamison was right that this would be the easiest way to find something. 

She padded her way around the van, giving the group one last look before running down the path and into the reserve. Time was on the side, luckily, it was in the early evening when they’d arrived here so it was dark enough that no one would be able to see them but early enough to give Sombra plenty of time to find something for Roadhog to eat. 

It didn’t take too long after she set out in the forest for Sombra to catch the scent of a deer nearby. She made her way through the forest, pushing through some of the bushes and doing her best to stay quiet as she got closer. Sombra didn’t exactly have much experience in hunting pretty much anything, let alone something larger like a deer, but it was a better option than having Roadhog eat one of them. 

Sombra spotted the deer directly in front of a small, slow stream as it had stopped for a drink of water. She lowered herself to the ground, peering out at her target as she waited in the brush for the right moment. The deer lifted its head, seeming to examine its surroundings and listening for any potential predators. After a few moments, it returned to drinking from the stream and let its guard down, giving Sombra the perfect opportunity. 

She dove through the bush, taking two long strides before pouncing on the deer using both paws before catching its neck in her mouth. Sombra couldn’t help but feel an almost muted version of disgust as the deer thrashed as best as it could underneath her before slowly losing strength. She waited until it stopped moving entirely before releasing her death grip. It was certainly easier to do this while shifted, her emotions didn’t feel as clear or heavy when in another form. 

It took awhile but Sombra did her best to drag the deer as close as she could to the entrance of the forest from where she came in. Eventually she dumped it, her jaw and neck aching from holding on for so long, before heading straight back to the van. She padded her way back around, shifting back into her human form and grabbing the clothes off the hood. Sombra wanted to get dressed first at least before showing Roadhog where his meal is.

“Follow me,” She grumbled as she pulled her hair through the collar of her shirt and started walking back to the forest, “It’s not too far in but I couldn’t make it all the way back.” 

Roadhog merely grunted in response to her explanation as he followed. It took only a few minutes of walking before Sombra found where she’d left the deer, stopping a few metres away and pointing towards it. She struggled to even look at the body. There was a reason she preferred to stay behind the computer. 

“Thanks.” Roadhog said, his voice gravelly and deep. It was the first time Sombra had heard him speak in the years that they’d both been living there. 

He removed his mask, not giving Sombra enough time to look away as he revealed his several rows of shark-like teeth. Roadhog picked up the deer and brought it to his mouth, going straight for the head and tearing it away. It was Sombra’s natural instinct to run away from it, thoroughly disgusted by what she had seen. If she had thought killing the deer was bad enough, this was much  _ much  _ worse. 

She practically ran her way back to the van and made eye contact with Gabriel who gave her an empathetic look as he realised what she must have seen. Sombra climbed into the passenger side of the van and slammed the door. She was more than ready to meet up with the others to get this entire thing over with.

* * *

 

The morning following their arrival in Killeen, Lena and Amélie decided to kill some time by taking a walk. It was going to be at least another few hours before the rest of them made their way to Killeen from wherever they were by now and Lena wanted to take advantage of what seemed to be the last opportunity to get time alone with Amélie. That was until Fareeha managed to invite herself along, saying that she needed a good chance to stretch herself out while she could. 

The three of them made their way across town with Fareeha in her wolf form beside them. Lena couldn’t help but find it funny to know that she kept a collar and leash for moments like these so it was much easier to pretend she was just a very large dog. Once they arrived at a reserve that Lena found online, she let Fareeha off the leash to give her a chance to run around and Lena was relieved to see her attention be focused more on chasing a plastic bag than on her and Amélie. 

When Fareeha was gone, Lena felt Amélie’s hand slip into hers and intertwine their fingers as they continued walking along the main path. When she’d taken up the job to travel to America and write a bunch of travel articles for the magazine back in London, she’d hoped to get to see as much as she could. This wasn’t exactly how she expected it to turn out, that’s for sure. 

“How long have you been in America?” Lena asked, flicking her eyes up to Amélie’s. 

Amélie hummed as she thought about her answer, “Nearly three years. Why do you ask, chérie?” 

“Well,” She started, pursing her lips, “Just sorta realised from talking to everyone that it doesn’t seem like Ana’s really taken anyone into the ranch for a while and that no one really wants to leave, y’know?”

“Ah,” Amélie said as she gave Lena a small smile, “As far as I am aware, Ana is the only ranch owner who does not force people to leave. Many of us have nowhere to go from here and she does not make anyone leave before they are ready,” She paused and squeezed Lena’s hand, “Ana decided I was to be the last one they would take in before they stopped until someone left to create space but she made an exception for you.” 

“Made an exception for me?”

“Oui. Since you were an emergency case, as it were. Cryptids do not usually come so far out of major cities so often and you were…  _ very  _ unfortunate. If I had not found you when I did, you would have died. You most likely would have become very dangerous if Ana had not taken you in,” Amélie licked her lips and brought her free hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, “She also thought it would be good for me.” 

Lena’s eyebrows raised at that, staring directly up at Amélie now, “What do you mean by that, love?” 

Amélie let out a sigh as her cheeks flushed, seemingly embarrassed by the topic, “Ana hoped that perhaps rescuing you and having someone brand new on the ranch would make me more, I suppose, sociable.” 

She couldn’t help but grin at that, “Well, she turned out to be right in the end.”

Amélie blushed even more and averted her eyes but couldn’t hide the smile growing on her face, “I suppose she was.” 

“Don’t think she meant it to be like how it ended up though, but she seems real smug about it either way,” Lena laughed, openly her mouth to speak again before being interrupted by her phone ringing. She fished it out of her pocket and brought it to her ear, “Hullo?” 

“Hello, Lena. How about you come back to the motel now?” Ana started, “Sombra just called to let me know that they’ve arrived in Killeen.”

“Right,” She sighed, trying to hide her disappointment as much as possible, “Sure, sounds good. We’ll head back right now.”

* * *

 

It took them about half an hour to call Fareeha in and walk their way back to the motel across town. Lena felt happiness bubbling inside her when Amélie continued to hold her hand even in Fareeha’s presence. Even though both her and Ana knew about what was going on between them, Amélie still felt nervous and shy about the idea of being seen with someone new. 

Lena did her best to keep Amélie reassured as they walked, knowing it was hard for her even after more than three years since Gérard had passed. She knew it could be a long while before Amélie felt truly comfortable. When they arrived back at the motel, Lena reluctantly let Amélie take back her hand as she fished in her pocket for the key to their room and watched as Fareeha walked in first. 

She waited for Amélie to enter as well before following them both inside and closing the door behind them so Fareeha could shift back with privacy. Lena took a seat at the end of one of the two single beds next to Amélie as Fareeha got changed, avoiding the smug side glances that Ana was tossing their way. 

It wasn’t much longer before a long white van pulled up in front of their motel room in the free parking space. Fareeha was the one who got up and answered the door, holding it open as she watched Gabriel, Sombra, Genji, Roadhog, and Jamison pile out of the vehicle. Gabriel entered first, making his way across the room to greet Ana directly, followed by Sombra who chose to linger by Fareeha, giving her a flirtatious smirk. The blush growing on Fareeha’s cheeks didn’t escape Lena’s eye. 

Lena stood up when she saw Genji lingering in the doorway. He didn’t seem to be coping so well with both the long trip and the fact that Jesse was still missing. His hair was askew, not having been styled like it usually was in several days and his t-shirt had a few food stains on the front. She made a mental note to take Genji outside and hose him down when they returned to the ranch. 

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in for a tight embrace and away from the door as she spoke, “You don’t look like you’re doing too good, love.” Lena said, frowning up at him. 

“I’m not, really,” Genji started, running his hand through his hair, “But, I’ll be fine again once we have Jesse back.” He nodded his head, chewing his lip. 

Lena was at least grateful that Genji was feeling optimistic about the outcome of this, “Right. We’ll make sure everything’s alright soon enough, yeah?”

“Yea-” Genji was interrupted by Jamison bursting his way through the doorway with Roadhog right on his tail. 

“We’re here!” He shouted in a singsong voice, drawing an eye roll from everyone in the room. Jamison made his way right over to Genji and Lena, “You missed me, newbie? You shoulda joined us in the van, way more fun.” 

Lena snorted a laugh, “Based on the way you lot smell, I’m glad to have missed out on that…  _ experience. _ ” 

“Whatever, shortie,” Jamison said as he rested his hand on top of her head, ruffling her hair, “Your loss.” 

“Don’t think it is, actually. Had way more fun with these three.” 

“Yes, definitely a kind of fun that you couldn’t get by being in the back of the van with Jamie, here.” Fareeha teased, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Oi, you shut your gob!” 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy reading this, feel free to follow me to see more of my work and interact with me here at twoheartedalien2-0.tumblr.com


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